San Francisco anticipated to pay $2.5 million to mom of man shot by police officer in 2017
San Francisco will pay $ 2.5 million to the mother of a man who was shot dead by a San Francisco police officer in 2017.
The payment, pending board approval, would settle a federal civil lawsuit that Judy O’Neil filed in December 2017, about two weeks after the death of her son, Keita O’Neil.
Police officer Christopher Samayoa had just graduated from police academy and started field training when he shot and killed O’Neil on December 1, 2017. O’Neil allegedly pushed a state lottery worker and stole the keys to her white minivan. Police accused him of stealing the van and leading her on a chase on Highway 101 that ended at a public housing complex on Bayview.
O’Neil opened the door to his van and jumped out of the moving vehicle as the police followed him. Samayoa, in the passenger seat of a patrol car driven by Edric Talusan, a training supervisor, pulled out his service pistol and fired through the window as O’Neil sped by. Footage of samayoa’s body-worn camera and surveillance video nearby revealed that O’Neil was unarmed and only yards away at the time of the shooting. He died of a gunshot wound to the head.
Three years later, in November 2020, Samayoa was charged with manslaughter, along with three other criminal charges: assault with a gun, reckless firing of a gun, and unlawful attack by a police officer. It was the first time in recent history that the city’s chief prosecutor has charged a police officer with murder in a case of use of force, and the third time in the region.
Since then, Boudin has charged five other officers who he believed used excessive force, including another for murder, which the prosecutor announced earlier this week. He has five criminal cases pending against police officers, including the one against Samayoa.
“This is one of the more ruthless shootings I’ve ever seen, mainly because the person was unarmed, the officer was in a safe position, and O’Neil ran past,” said John Burris, the O’Civic attorney. Neil’s family. “According to the principles of ‘reasonable’ and ‘necessary’ he was wrong in both cases.”
Julia Fox, an attorney who represents Samayoa in criminal proceedings, said her client “has full confidence in the legal process and he trusts a jury of his colleagues should this become relevant”.
“We are confident that Officer Samayoa’s actions at the end of his case, after a thorough review of all the circumstances presented, were reasonable,” said Fox.
Burris added that O’Neil’s mother, Judy, was traumatized and that the court had hired her younger sister to look after her. He called the case heartbreaking.
Rachel Swan is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan