Woman vows to sue SFPD over violent arrest for crossing street outside crosswalk, leaving her with concussion and separated shoulder

A mother of five was recently assaulted during an arrest for crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, and now that there’s video of the incident, she says she’s going to sue the SFPD for leaving her with a concussion and a separated shoulder.

This week, news outlets learned that an arrest for crossing the street outside of crosswalks in the Richmond neighborhood last month turned violent. The woman who was arrested has now hired a lawyer and vowed to pursue legal action. According to KRON4, the incident happened on July 29 on Geary Boulevard near Second Avenue. The woman claims the force used by San Francisco police left her with a concussion, a separated shoulder and torn ligaments.

KTVU has a pretty extensive video of the incident, and at first, Christiana Porter is seen walking across Second Avenue with headphones on and not noticing that a police SUV has pulled up. (It’s not clear from the video whether she had the right of way.) So she continues walking down Geary Boulevard, and a cop chases her down the wrong way, then gets out of the SUV and pushes Porter into a wall.

She begins screaming, “I’m not resisting,” even though the officer insists that she is. Three more police cars arrive, sirens blaring, and more officers hold her against the wall. They handcuff her and drag her into one of the police cars.

“It all happened so fast,” Porter, a single mother of five, told KRON4. “I was terrified because the moment he ran up to me out of his car and saw the angry look on his face and said, ‘I’m going to hurt you,’ I knew right away that he didn’t mean well.”

“I still have a separated right shoulder, torn ACM ligaments that attach to my collarbone, and a concussion,” she added. “I still feel the aftereffects of a concussion and also in my hips and back.”

The officer who initially arrested Porter was SFPD Officer Josh McFall. KTVU has additional video of bystanders confronting McFall, who told them Porter refused to stop or show identification, and wouldn’t keep his hands out of his pockets. “I didn’t want it to happen like this, but when people put me in that position, I have no choice,” he said.

Porter hired a lawyer, who filed a lawsuit, which is likely a precursor to a civil lawsuit. “This was an unreasonable use-of-force detention,” that lawyer, Lateef Gray, told the Chronicle. “The SFPD has a policy that should prevent officers from using the crosswalk as an excuse to conduct a more in-depth investigation, but here we see that policy being blatantly ignored.”

The attorney is also asking District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office not to file charges against Porter for illegal crossing. But according to KRON4, Porter has a court date set for August 23 for illegal crossing and resisting arrest.

Related: Etiquette Week: How to Walk the Sidewalk Like a Reasonable Human Being

Image: A San Francisco Police Department vehicle is seen patrolling during a stay-at-home order due to an outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus in San Francisco, California, on March 23, 2020. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)