San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Monday that he has filed homicide charges against former police officer Christopher Samayoa for the 2017 shooting of 42-year-old Keita OâNeil.
Boudinâs decision to charge the former SFPD officer marks the first time in the cityâs history that a district attorney has brought homicide charges against an officer.
During a press conference Monday, Boudin announced five charges against Samayoa, including voluntary manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, assault by an executive officer, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and negligent discharge of a firearm.
OâNeil, suspected of carjacking a California Lottery van in Potrero Hill, led police in a vehicle pursuit on the morning of Dec. 1, 2017 through the Bayview district. Hitting a dead-end in the Alice Griffith housing project, OâNeil fled the vehicle, running past the squad car that Samayoa was in.
Samayoa fired his weapon through the passenger side window, fatally striking OâNeil. OâNeil was unarmed.
âBody camera footage shows that not a single other officer pulled out their service weapon or pointed at Mr. OâNeil,â Boudin said on Monday. âAs a result of Officer Samayoaâs terrible, tragic, and unlawful decision to pull and fire his gun that day, Mr. OâNeil was killed and my office is filing charges today.â
Although Samayoa turned his body camera on just after the shooting, his camera captured the footage because body cameras automatically record 30 seconds before activation.
Samayoa had graduated from the police academy just days before the shooting, and was riding passenger with his training officer, Edric Talusan. Officer Samayoa was fired in March, 2018 as a result of the shooting.
Samayoa is expected to surrender to his arrest warrant later this week with a nominal bond set at $1,000, Boudin said.
“We do not expect him to be a flight risk. He has been at liberty the three years while this case was under investigation.” Boudin said.
Civil rights attorney John Burris, whose office filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over the shooting in 2017, called it “one of the most shocking” incidents he’d ever seen at the time.
The San Francisco Police Dept. and the San Francisco Police Officers Association have not yet responded to requests for comment.
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