Charges dismissed for man who was shot by San Francisco police

Amy Larson
·2 min read
173

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A San Francisco police officer refused to testify this week for the trial of Richard Everett. The officer’s refusal prompted prosecutors to dismiss the case on Thursday, just one day after a jury heard opening statements, according to the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office.

The officer was supposed to testify about the night of August 28, when San Francisco Police Department officers opened fire on Everett.

Everett was armed with a knife in the Tenderloin neighborhood when officers surrounded him, gave conflicting and confusing commands, and shot him five times, defense attorneys said.

Deputy Public Defenders Nuha Abusamra and Anthony Gedeon said police never told Everett he was under arrest, and he was trying to walk away when officers shot him.

The 54-year-old man was charged with resisting arrest, threatening an officer, and carrying a knife. Everett spent the past five months in jail waiting for his trial.

“Today’s dismissal illustrates why Mr. Everett should have never been charged and incarcerated since August of 2023,” said Abusamra.

“Prosecutors dismissed the case, citing the absence of a material witness after one of the responding police officers refused to testify about the lethal violence used by police that night,” the Public Defender’s Office wrote.

After the August 28 police shooting on Jones Street, Everett was taken to San Francisco General Hospital and placed under arrest, defense attorneys said.

Abusamra said police officers’ body-worn camera footage was “gruesome. When the police closed off the 300 block of Jones Street and surrounded Mr. Everett, they were not in danger. Police spent roughly 15 minutes giving him conflicting commands, both asking him to drop the knife and then telling him he could keep it. When Mr. Everett tried to slowly walk away while holding a milk crate in one hand and his duffel bag in the other, police opened fire with both less-lethal and lethal rounds in quick succession. That is not de-escalation.”

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