Glover’s companion fires first
In DA Chesa Boudin’s recent trial of SFPD Officer Stengal, the DA demonstrated a lack of sensitivity to Breonna Richard as a probable victim of domestic violence. Stengal had responded to multiple 9-1-1 callers describing Dacari Spiers as choking Richard. She claimed they were only embracing over her missing wallet. Despite the witnesses’ claims of violence, DA Chesa Boudin prioritized convicting Stengal over providing domestic violence referrals to Richard.
SFPD’s policies also worked against Richard and consequently Stengal. Those policies dictate that if an officer uses force to make an arrest, instead of the experienced experts of the specialized domestic violence unit engaging with the victim, the generalist officers from Internal Affairs assume control of the investigation. Thus, SFPD’s policies replicated the DA’s prioritization of Stengal’s involvement, instead of protecting Richard from the probable cycle of domestic violence abuse-- and Spiers escaped criminal scrutiny.
Boudin’s insensitivity to victims of domestic violence was again confirmed in the recent Michael Glover incident whereby he fired a gun at his girlfriend. Boudin completely dismissed the charges despite the incident having been captured on video.
From a 350 Rhode Island nonbeliever: the video here.
Stengal Case: the three ways DA Boudin ignored domestic violence victims
1) By calling 9-1-1, the witnesses could have created an inflection point to get Richard into a program for domestic violence victims, which could have possibly saved her from future abuse. Yet, in his spin, Boudin disparaged the calls to police as racially biased “Karen calls” despite the callers being of similar African American decent.
2) Boudin did not want an SFPD domestic violence expert to share his trained experience and education in the trial because that may have described how: a) the dynamics of domestic violence were such that Richard was too intimidated by Spiers to testify honestly, b) any prior Spiers/Richard domestic violence incidents would have been exposed, c) domestic violence is a hard-to-break cycle: fight, make up, fight, and d) a domestic violence SFPD Inspector told me, “Domestic violence is similar to a disease and abusers do not suddenly stop and become cured.”
3) Considering the inspector’s comments about the difficulty of breaking the domestic violence cycle, it seems insensitive that Boudin chose career public defender Rebecca Young to prosecute her first case that had underlying domestic violence issues. Per the book, Days of Rage, author Bryan Burrough accused Young’s husband, Bill Harris, of being a domestic abuser in his first marriage to Emily Harris. Specifically: a) “more than once Bill punched Emily, blackening her eye.” b) “more than once, she (Patty Hearst) claimed later, he punched her in the face too.” c) “when Emily denied him (sex), Harris simply mounted Patty who felt powerless to object.” Is Boudin confident that Bill Harris has broken the DV cycle, and that Young is not a silent victim too?
Glover incident: DA Boudin ignored domestic violence victim in Glover shooting
On an evening in December of 2021, SFPD officers responded to a disturbance call at the Bernal Dwellings in the Mission district. The female victim refused to speak to the police or identify her relationship with the male abuser. Was she intimidated by her abuser?
Two hours later, Mission Station officers responded to a shots-fired call in the same area when other SFPD officers stopped a Honda fleeing a few blocks away. Officers simultaneously saw Glover walking away towards a Toyota, dropped an item to the driver, and then the driver of the Toyota sped off.
The same female victim from earlier in the night was in the passenger seat of the Honda. She again refused to give a statement to SFPD other than saying she and her boyfriend fight all the time and they would get back together after the incident.
SFPD officers were able to obtain the video (above) of Glover exiting the Toyota and attacking the Honda and then shooting at it as it sped off with his girlfriend inside. SFPD recovered seven spent cartridges consistent with the location the video captured and the ShotSpotter activation. Glover was arrested for an assault with a deadly weapon.
While you are probably shocked by the raw violence in the video of Glover and a companion, Boudin found there was a “lack of evidence” and declined to prosecute. (Code 24 for the ADA’s).
Domestic violence: the most violent calls police officers respond to
Domestic violence calls, by their very nature are volatile and violent. Unlike a planned bank robbery where the robber has preplanned for contingencies, a domestic violence incident is an uncontained impulsive and a physical outpouring.
Like the Mission Local’s Joe Eskenazi, I spoke to half a dozen current and former SFPD officers with cumulative experience of well over a century and a half. They cumulatively agreed that it would be critical mistake for the first officer arriving not to immediately try to separate the two fresh DV combatants. “Cops are outsiders intruding on a relationship, and the combatants can quickly unite against the officer.” And: “If the violent abuser shows any signs of noncompliance, it’s a sign he is very unlikely to respond to de-escalation techniques.”
Boudin’ prosecution team claimed that because Spiers was not doing anything when SFPD arrived, the officers should have approached in a calmer fashion. One officer told me: “That’s like an officer responding to a bank robbery and not unholstering his gun until he sees the robber’s gun. It’s the same way with DV abusers, even the slightest resistance is sign of a growing threat to the officer. You can’t approach timidly.”
There are consistencies of violence in Spiers’ and Glover’s histories. Glover fired a gun at his girlfriend in the video, and Spiers girlfriend was arrested in Marin for being a convicted felon carrying a gun—though not Spiers specifically, it is an indication of a tolerance for violence.
Almost trivial incidents triggered extreme violence in both these cases. Spiers had a dispute after Richard accused him of stealing her wallet. Glover told SFPD his girlfriend took his keys and money.
Interestingly, Richard’s claim of the missing wallet is peculiar in that she was arrested 18 months after the San Francisco incident for chatting up and distracting senior citizens, stealing their wallets, and then using their credit cards. Whether it was someone else’s wallet Spiers and Richard were fighting over in the tourist-centric part of San Francisco was not an issue addressed in the trial.
Where is the outrage
While Boudin has spoken out about the root causes of crime, by failing to act on the domestic violence portion of these incidents, he has perpetuated the intergenerational legacy of violence. Boudin allocated taxpayers’ money to assign three attorneys to convict Stengal, while not spending a penny dealing or guiding domestic abusers like Spiers and Glover to programs?
Where is the outrage from the community advocates claiming to protect domestic violence victims?
Muzzle flash from Glover’s shots
For the first 2 1/2 months of 2022, total crime up 6% and thefts up 27% over last year.
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Well detailed and factually written. 👍