San Francisco District Attorney blasts police dept's raid on journalist's home
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The outcry against the San Francisco Police Department's handling of the probe into Public Defender Jeff Adachi's death and the raid of a credentialed journalist's home continues.
Wednesday the City's District Attorney responded to the police action.
"The public trust has been damaged here for both the Mayor and the Police Department," District Attorney George Gascon said. "The only way you can repair that harm is by having an independent investigation."
RELATED: San Francisco police chief responds to calls for him to resign over raid on journalists home
Mayor London Breed has done just that.
She's asked Police Chief William Scott to relinquish his investigation into the death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi.
The police report of his death was leaked to freelance videographer Bryan Carmody.
The Department was trying to find out who gave that report to him.
The police later raided Carmody's home, a raid that some say was extreme force.
RELATED: San Francisco mayor orders independent investigation into raid on journalist's home
Gascon says the raid was illegal under California's Shield Law.
"I do not think that those searches were appropriate given what I knew. And B, that I thought, more importantly, they were an assault on our freedom of expression in having a free press."
Chief Scott later apologized for the raid, and said it again Monday at a news conference.
"The facts haven't changed. There were issues. There were mistakes that were made."
The Police Officers Association has called for Chief Scott to resign, saying he's not taking responsibility for the raid and instead blaming his investigators.
"San Francisco deserves an honest broker chief and i don't feel that Chief Scott can fill that role anymore," said POA President Tony Montoya.
At a public event today, Mayor London Breed was asked if she stood by her Chief.
Her answer, "This time... I am supportive of the process working itself out."
Mayor Breed says she has no plans at this time to ask the Chief to resign.
She wants to see what the independent investigations reveal.
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