SF Approves $2.5M in the Keita O'Neil Case. ‘Cop Took Careful Aim Through the Sight of his Gun, Waited for Black Man's Head to Come into View and then Opened Fire w/Deliberation and Premeditation’

From [HERE] and [MORE] The city of San Francisco will pay $2.5 million to the mother of an unarmed Black man killed by a rookie San Francisco Police Department officer in 2017 after San Francisco supervisors approved the settlement on Tuesday.

Keita O'Neil, 42, died after former officer Chris Samayoa shot him during a police chase in the city's Bayview District on Dec. 1, 2017.

Samayoa is currently facing manslaughter charges, among others, for the fatal officer-involved shooting -- making Samayoa one of the first police officers charged with such a crime in the city's history.

After the shooting, in 2017, Keita O'Neil's mother Judy O'Neil filed a civil lawsuit against the city over her son's death, alleging excessive force.

Supervisors unanimously approved the settlement during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.

In the lawsuit, the city argued that Samayoa was justified in the shooting because he had reasonable fear that O'Neil, who was unarmed, was reaching for a gun as he ran toward Samayoa. However, said claim was completely nonsensical based on the bodycamera video which shows the black man was in flight and had ran past the police.

Mr. O’Neil was suspected of having stolen a California State Lottery minivan. Mr. Samayoa and Officer Talusan chased him for a few blocks in the Bayview District when the van reached a dead-end street, at which point Mr. O’Neil jumped out and began to run.

Other patrol cars closed in and blocked Mr. O’Neil’s path, at which point he ran past the police car where Mr. Samayoa was seated in the passenger seat. The rookie officer shot Mr. O’Neil as he was running by, killing him. Officer Samayoa pointed his gun and shot Mr. O’Neil in the head through the passenger side window of the patrol car, killing Mr. O’Neil.

Mr. O’Neil had no weapon on him.  His cause of death was determined to be a homicide. [MORE]

Samayoa did not turn his body camera on until after the shooting, but the incident was still captured on video because the cameras automatically record 30 seconds prior to activation.

Body camera footage released after the showed O’Neil exit the vehicle and Samayoa open fire from inside the moving patrol car as it came to a stop next to the van. The bullet shattered the patrol car window.

“Officer Samayoa took careful aim through the sight of his handgun and waited for Mr. O’Neil’s head to come into view,” Burris said. “As soon as Mr. O’Neil was lined up with the sight of Officer Samayoa’s gun, the rookie opened fire with deliberation and premeditation.” [MORE]

Three months after the shooting, Police Chief William “Bill” Scott fired Samayoa. [MORE]