Family Of Man Fatally Shot By SFPD In Bernal Heights Call Medical Examiner's Report Defamatory
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS)— Family and friends of Alejandro (Alex) Nieto who was shot and killed by San Francisco police earlier this year are denouncing a new medical examiner's report that was released this week.
More than a dozen supporters gathered at the sight of Nieto's death at Bernal Heights Park. They called the report that ruled the death a homicide, defamatory and disturbing. The San Francisco Chronicle reported among the findings is that Nieto, 28, had marijuana in his system on the night of the incident, March 21st.
The report additionally disclosed that Nieto was once placed under psychiatric hold.
"They are trying to bring up something that happened in the past and it has nothing to do with the day of the actual incident," said Maria Villa-Alto with the Justice and Love for Alex Nieto Committee.
The organization claims Nieto was a California Medical Marijuana card carrier and that it's legal to consume marijuana in the state for medical reasons.
She claims what happened that night was that a law-abiding man was murdered by police. One of the only points in the report that she agrees with is the fact that Nieto was shot more than a dozen times by police.
SFPD initially responded to reports of a man who was said to be acting erratically in the park. Officers said they thought Nieto was armed with a gun and that they shot him when he pulled out a Taser, thinking it was a lethal weapon.
"The medical examiner's report was just completed yesterday [Thursday]. It's a very important piece any time there's an officer-involved shooting and so we'd have to review it in conjunction with our investigation," said Alex Bastian with the city's District Attorney's office.
Villa Alta said they don't trust local authorities and that they want the Department of Justice to investigate similar to what is happening with the case of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO.