SAN FRANCISCO — Christopher Samayoa, a former San Francisco policeman who was just weeks on the job when he shot and killed a 42-year-old man during a 2017 chase, is being charged with manslaughter and other felonies in the shooting, prosecutors revealed Monday.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced the charges at a news conference Monday, marking the first occasion the office has charged an officer in connection with an on-duty fatality, he said. Samayoa has not yet been arrested but Boudin said he expects the former officer to surrender for booking later this week.
Samayoa was fired weeks after he shot and killed 42-year-old Keita O’Neil, firing through the window of a moving police vehicle as he sat in the passenger seat. Video released by SFPD shows O’Neil was running and struck by gunfire in the neck as the car pulled alongside him.
Speaking to reporters outside his office Monday, Boudin framed the charges in the context of the city’s “long history of officer-involved shootings leading to no accountability whatsoever.”
“For far too long, we have seen the failure of our legal system to hold police accountable for violence committed against the very members of the public that they have sworn to serve and protect,” Boudin said. “This lack of accountability for police who abuse their power has created great mistrust in our community, especially for people of color.”
Hours after the charges were announced, the San Francisco Police Officers Association released a statement offering support to Samayoa and noting “the criminal justice system will allow for the facts surrounding this case to be disclosed.”
“We are committed to ensuring that Christopher and his family are supported during this difficult time and that he is accorded his due process rights and provided with a vigorous defense against these charges,” Tony Montoya, the SFPD police union president, said in the written statement, which was given to television station KTVU.
Boudin said he will not ask a judge to keep Samayoa in jail as he awaits resolution in the case because he doesn’t think the former officer is a flight risk. Boudin’s office considered murder charges against Samayoa, but opted to file for manslaughter, along with assault and two other felonies related to the discharge of a gun.
Charges against police for on-duty fatalities are rarely filed in the Bay Area. Earlier this year, however, San Leandro Police Ofc. Jason Fletcher was charged with manslaughter for shooting and killing Steven Taylor at a store.
In 2009, BART Police Ofc. Johannes Mehserle shot and killed Oscar Grant III, leading to Mehserle’s charge and conviction of involuntary manslaughter. In 2015, three Santa Clara County jail guards beat inmate Michael Tyree to death, eventually facing murder charges for which they were convicted.
