Posted on 05/27/2016 12:03:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The family of Kate Steinle, a woman shot and killed on San Francisco's Pier 14 last July, Friday filed a federal lawsuit against city and federal officials alleging that a series of policy failures and negligent acts led to her death.
The lawsuit, which names the city of San Francisco, former Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alleges that officials allowed Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with a history of drug offenses, to go free and obtain the gun that killed her.
"The Steinle Family hopes that their actions today will serve to highlight the lax enforcement of gun safety regulations among the law enforcement agencies involved and bureaucratic confusion so that this will not happen to others," Frank Pitre, the lawyer representing the Steinle family, said in a statement today.
Steinle, a 32-year-old Pleasanton native who had recently moved to San Francisco, was shot on July 1 while walking with family members on Pier 14. Police arrested Lopez-Sanchez, who had been deported five times and hadseven prior felony convictions, within an hour of the shooting.
The shooting set off a national furor over San Francisco's Sanctuary City policies after it was revealed that the Sheriff's Department had released Lopez-Sanchez without notifying immigration officials. Mirkarimi in March of 2015 had sent out a memo forbidding all communications with immigration officials, in a move that today's lawsuit alleges exceeded his authority and city policies.
San Francisco's Sanctuary City and Due Process for All policies, intended to encourage communication between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, forbid the use of city and county resources for assisting federal immigration authorities but allow for some communication with them under limited circumstances.
Inspired in part by the uproar over Steinle's death, the Board of Supervisors voted this week to update that policy with clarifications about when such communications are allowed. The lawsuit also faults federal immigration officials for failing to take a more active role in detaining Lopez-Sanchez, despite knowing of San Francisco's policy.
The Bureau of Land Management is named because the gun used in the shooting was stolen from the car of a BLM agent who had left it unsecured ina backpack.
That incident and other recent law enforcement gun thefts from vehicles inspired Supervisor David Campos to introduce legislation, approved in February, requiring all guns stored in cars to be secured in lockboxes.
Lopez-Sanchez has been charged with murder in Steinle's death, but defense attorneys have indicated they are likely to argue the shooting was the result of an accidental ricochet.
I hope they win.
They governmental organizastions might beat the rap but they won’t beat the ride.
HA!
yet they still plan on voting for hillary...
I’m glad they’re suing and I hope they win but from what I’ve read this family has been voting in favor of these a-holes and their liberal open border policies for a long time.
Now there is a jury, I want to be on.
They should add former mayor Gavin Newsom, our next Governor. He let an Ms-13 member roam free. Ended up killing a man and his 2 sons over a traffic dispute. He started this crap.
Good. Go for the jugular (legally speaking).
These sanctuary cities need to pay a hefty price for their traitorous ways.
Come to think of it, so do the majority inside the Beltway.
Damn trial lawyers.
At least two people have been killed by illegals since Kate Steinle. And Hillary and Trump have been completely silent about it.
‘yet they still plan on voting for hillary.’
Do you know this for a fact, or are you speculating?
Mirkarimi, a Democrat was elected sheriff in November 2011. He served from January to March 2012, at which time he was charged with domestic violence battery, child endangerment, and dissuading a witness in connection with a December 31, 2011 New Year’s Eve altercation with his wife, and he was suspended him from office pending an ethics investigation.
The asshat was also the founder of the Green Party.
Though I’m not familiar with the complaint, even if the family wins, it won’t be effective unless the individual defendants are sued personally, as opposed to listing the city and department as defendants. Take the life savings of Mirkarimi, his house and all his assets, let the message go out that future suits will similarly target individuals as individuals and we might see a change. Otherwise, the city and department just pay up with other people’s money.
The Governor, Mayor, Police Chief, City Council, they don't lose anything in a lawsuit, the taxpayers do.
Put that money to good use. Send a message.
The only public figure who has been championing her effectively to date has been Donald J. Trump, since June, 2015.
Thank you for filing suit to _help_ the anti-USA cities and other entities get a small clue.
Mr. Stienle is the best VP choice ever!
These sanctuary cities need to pay a hefty price for their traitorous ways.
Come to think of it, so do the majority inside the Beltway.
Worth repeating.
i read that they are anti 2nd amendment liberals so i’m making an educated guess.
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