On Tuesday, Salinas police answered a 911 call claiming "a man tried to break into a home and threatened to kill the resident." Police later responded by shooting the suspect to death on a busy street corner, all of which was captured on video.

CBS SF has more:

The resident told police that the man was armed with scissors and had gone inside the home and also tried to kill the victim’s dog and exposed his genitals while making sexually explicit comments.

Officers found the suspect walking on Elkington Avenue and noticed he had a large pair of gardening shears in his backpack, police said.

Officers demanded he get onto the ground but the man ignored the commands.
Police said the officers tried to use a Taser on the man but it was ineffective and he continued walking away, eventually pulling the gardening shears from his backpack and swinging them toward the officers.

Fearing being slashed or stabbed, the two officers fired their guns at the man and he was pronounced dead on the street.

Shortyl after the shooting (warning: graphic), a woman can be heard screaming at the cops, "Why the fuck didn't you Taser him. Motherfuckers, stupid asses."

The two officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave pending investigation. The name of the the victim has yet to be released.

[CBS SF]
[SFGate]

It's good to know people in powerful places. Take, for example, San Francisco police officer Richard Soares, who received a feather-light sentence after being convicting of charges stemming from an assault on his former girlfriend outside a Union Square nightclub.

SF Examiner has more:

Soares reportedly pushed the woman to the ground, causing her to sustain 1-inch gash to the back of her head.

Soares at one point faced 11 charges related to the case: One count of felony assault, which the judge reduced to a misdemeanor, one felony count of dissuading a witness, and nine misdemeanor counts of violating a restraining order, prosecutors said.

Soares wasn't found guilty of assault and dissuading a witness, but a jury "found him guilty of nine counts of violating the restraining order." His sentence? A scant 27 days in work program.

During the trial, the officer was put on unpaid leave during the trial.

[SF Ex]

We hear a lot about police officers doing their jobs (or not), but we rarely get to put a face to a name or a name to a heroic achievement. We're guessing that's the reason behind the website sfcitycops.com, a project of the San Francisco Police Officers Association.

With the tagline "They work to make your day," the site tells its story with video clips that introduce us to local cops and their accomplishments. So far, three better-know-a-cop tales profile an Army vet working the Bayview beat, an investigator with a prosthetic leg working the Mission, and a husband-and-wife team who keep the magic alive by patrolling the Tenderloin together every day.

But better still are the more recent dramatic reenactments of two recent police incidents, one of which (the clip called "Lifesaver") a sharp-eyed friend of SFist saw airing on MSNBC.

Remember December's story about the SFPD officers who administered CPR to a newborn while speeding to the hospital? Here's the heroic reenactment with the two hero cops:

And how about that that July fire on Pine Street? Here's the story for the side of the cop who rescued a 91-year-old woman from the burning building:

We've reached out to the SFPOA for more information on just what the motivation behind the site is, but we're guessing they're looking to get on the social media bandwagon to publicize their successes (up next, that $1.5 million MDMA bust?) and put a kinder, gentler spin on our local fuzz. We're staying tuned to see what they come up with next.

As they have in previous years, undercover federal agents are currently roaming Black Rock City, in proper playa garb, trying to bust unsuspecting souls for drugs. The place is not, in fact, the lawless bacchanal that most of us believe it to be.

There are drug dogs, NARCs in Catwoman costumes asking dudes for E, and the like, and sure, that sucks. But this is Nevada, and law-and-order types take great satisfaction in raining on the parade of relaxed, semi-naked Burners who are just trying to spread the stimulant/hallucinogenic love.

Also, as the official drug and alcohol policy states, your medical marijuana card is no good there. You're in Nevada.

Last year, the Reno Gazette reported on 350 arrests at the festival.

That being said, EVERYONE IS ON DRUGS. So the agents have kind of an impossible task on their hands.

We have one question though: If someone merely offers to barter some drugs for Pringles or whatever, would they still be busted for "selling"? Oh right, there it is in the drug policy: Even giving drugs to someone could "rise to the level of trafficking."

[Business Insider]
[Burners.me]

All previous coverage of Burning Man on SFist.

Before Tuesday's game against the Reds, Officer Michael Bushnell, the newest member of SFPD's Marine Unit, cruised by McCovey Cove to save a drowning Coach (at least we think it's Coach, maybe Michael Kors) bag.

Let's get a closer look at this heroic officer...

...very nice.

Photo by Troy Holden.

Photo by Gerard Livernois.

It's long been a personal nightmare to have that mellow-looking dog on Haight Street suddenly lunge for my throat, and it played out for one unlucky cop (and canine) yesterday afternoon. While attempting to rouse a drunken man sleeping in Golden Gate Park, an officer ran afoul of the man's dog, a 2-year-old unspayed female pit mix named Janaai. The dog broke free of her leash and bit the officer in the leg. The officer then shot the animal and killed her.

Janaai had previously been under the care of Animal Care and Control when the dog's owner spent a few weeks in jail, and by all accounts she was well-behaved in the kennel setting. No word on why the dog may have attacked the officer, who went to the hospital to have the bite wound treated.

[SF Gate]

It was a bad day for cops, San Francisco residents, and a good day for one very violent person(s).

According to KTVU News, an AR-15 assault rifle was stolen when a parked, locked, unmarked police car was broken into over the weekend as the officers were working in the area.

This rifle is issued to specially trained police officers. Were they specially trained how to not leave the rifle in plain sight or lock it in the trunk when they aren't in the car with it? Were the cops in plain clothes or did this thief know he was stealing from the police? What area was this in? All valid concerns and questions that are still unclear at this time. But what is clear is that no one should be wandering the streets with a murder weapon like this. A Google image search of the rifle is horrifying. Even the Hello Kitty version (because, why not?) of an AR-15 is still gnarly.

There are several ways to tip off police, in case anyone who reads online blogs like SFist also knows someone who steals assault rifles and knows the location of the rifle. Call police at (415)553-1373, or anonymously tip at (415)575-4444, or forget anonymity and text your tip to TIP411.

Update, March 5th: Relax, everybody! SFPD found their missing weapon.

Two officers were seriously injured trying to break up a fight that erupted near the Powell Street cable car turnaround on Sunday afternoon last Sunday. (Yes, we are late to the story. Sorry, folks.) Damoon Arman, 25, of Pleasanton allegedly started a verbal altercation with a 30-year-old Concord man "and began punching him," according to SF Examiner. As two nearby cops tried to stop the fight, "another man who had not been involved in the brawl swooped in and attacked the cops, punching one in the head and face — knocking him unconscious — and the other in the nose."

That third suspect has been identified as Jerry Lovette Young Jr., 25, of Tracy.

One officer "was knocked unconscious suffered a contusion," while the other was punched in the nose

Before failing to grasp the concept of laying low for awhile, Young and Arman, who were both on probation, were both arrested at the scene as a swarm of officers descended upon the melee. Both injured parties were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

[SF Examiner]

Photo by Travis Jensen.

Tales of police and civilian clashes are at worst harrowing and at best downright fascinating. This recent story of SFPD confusion thrust upon a San Franciscan takes a little from the former and latter. Adam Lynn of Hella Rad explains how a cop followed him home this past week, entered his residence, and thew him to the ground with the assumption that he was a person of interest wanted in connection for bringing a rifle (!) onto Muni.

After the ordeal, which we'll get to in a second, the cop was decent enough to allow Lynn to snap a photo of his visage and badge. (Which is what law enforcement officers are supposed to do, because.)

On his blog, Lynn writes:

This shit head cop chased me into my house an forced me to the ground. The cop didn’t identify himself so I thought someone was trying to break into my house. Apparently some guy had a rifle on muni and there looking for him. We look alike. #occupy #sf #cops #gonewild (at Lower Haight)

SFist contacted Lynn for more details.

Going into more detail, could you tell us what happened to you on that day?

"I was walking home after work and as soon as I got to my door this Guy ran at me as I was trying to put my keys in the door so I could slam the door on him because I didn't know who he was or what he was doing and then I was almost inside trying to slam the door on him he kicked the door open and threw me on the ground and kept asking me for my name. and i kept on asking him to identify himself. During this I was screaming at my girlfriend to call the police because I thought he was trying to rob me or break into my house and I'm wasn't going to let that happen."

What happened after the cop realized he made a mistake?

"Soon after he knew he was wrong he told me that he was searching for a man that was 6"2 that had a rifle on Muni last week and he was following me from 14th St. all the way to the lower haight because he said I was wearing a beanie."

How exactly did the picture of the cop holding his badge come about?

"After this all blew over I was pretty mad so I went out there and I said a few things to the cop then requested to get his picture with his badge number. When I looked up the criminal report they had, I found nothing like the man for whom they were searching. As for SFPD, I recently had my phone stolen from me pretty much in front of cops. They told me to go file a police report. I feel so unsafe in this town it's gotten to a point where I need to take the law into my own hands if needed."

No word yet if SFPD apprehended the bad man with the rifle.

See, this is something we would do if (God save us all) we held a job as a uniformed police officer. Early this morning, A UC Berkeley cop shot himself in the leg while getting ready for work in the police department's locker room.

"He was holstering his weapon and shot himself in the leg," Police Capt. Margo Bennett tells the Oakland Tribune. "It appears it's a straightforward injury and everything is going to be fine."

Feel free to add your own wild conspiracy theory in the comments.

Facing a protester shouting "fascist pigs!" over a bullhorn, cops cleansed San Francisco's final Occupy encampment a little before midnight last night in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco building at 101 Market. According to the Chronicle, "The clearance began at 11:35 p.m. when about 70 police officers suddenly trotted up in formation and surrounded the blocklong stretch of more than two dozen campers on Market Street in front of the Federal Reserve Building." Around 20 or so protesters who didn't budge, it seems, were taken into police custody while the camp was disassembled and washed clean.

SFPD said they had distributed literature to campers over the last week or so, telling them they would be disbanded. Occupiers say that the area is public space. One bystander at the scene, James Miller, told the Chron, "they're up here until midnight or 1 a.m. drinking and using drugs, and then you hear the screams and fights start to happen." But an Occupy SF media person rebuts, "the things said about our camp are not true." And on and on.

No word yet if another camp will present itself anytime soon, but the outlook seems murky. Maybe after election season ends when people need to have nowhere else to focus their political energies. Stay tuned.

[Chron]

In a bout of self-destructive behavior that would make a former child star proud, a woman managed to not only crash into the toll plaza on the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday afternoon, but get herself arrested for DUI, battery, and resisting arrest in the process. As KTVU reports, 26-year-old SF resident Shawnte Alexander allegedly crashed her 1992 Lexus into a buffer at the toll plaza early Saturday morning. After California Highway Patrol officers found evidence that she was drunk and attempted to load her into a patrol car, she responded by thrashing, spitting, and kicking one of them in the face.

The CHP officers restrained Alexander and took her to SFPD's Mission station, where she repeatedly tried to bite them before spitting on the technician who was drawing blood to determine her blood-alcohol content.

Alexander had two passengers with her in the car at the time of the crash, neither of whom were injured. We imagine both of them are probably going to be telling that my-friend-kicked-a-cop-in-the-face story for years to come.

[KTVU]