Surveillance video released by the San Francisco Public Defender's Office shows an SFPD officer yanking motorcyclist David Cordero off his bike and punching and kneeing him on the ground, with three more officers joining in moments later. Body-camera footage provides audio. The footage stems from a predawn encounter on August 12, 2018, after Cordero's motorcycle clipped the door of a police car near Post and Hyde streets.
As reported by CBS News, the Public Defender's Office accused officers of misconduct in connection with the case, and the video's release has reignited scrutiny of how San Francisco polices its own. The incident happened around 4:30 a.m., according to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, which said six SFPD officers from three police vehicles were on scene by the time the confrontation unfolded.
What the Footage Shows
The Public Defender's Office said the video shows the officer closest to the collision immediately pulling Cordero off his motorcycle and beginning to punch and knee him while he was down, with three additional officers piling on shortly after. The office also said the footage undercuts officers' account that Cordero had pinned one of them against the car, noting that the officer in question had moved out of the way before the door even closed.
The office identified the officers involved as Steven Oesterich, Christopher Cotter, Michael DeFelippo, Brendan Williams, Aaron Cowhig and Anthony Sharron. The Public Defender's Office said its Integrity Unit was preparing complaints to the Department of Police Accountability over alleged excessive force and dishonesty tied to the case.
Jury Convicted Cordero on Driving Charges, Deadlocked on the Rest
A San Francisco jury found Cordero guilty of driving without a license and driving on a suspended license, but it failed to reach a verdict on charges of assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, and those counts were later dismissed, per the Public Defender's Office. The office also said Cordero had a pending civil lawsuit against the City of San Francisco over the incident.
The case is part of a broader pattern the Public Defender's Office has pointed to in recent accountability pushes. In a separate case involving a man named Matthew Ludwig, the office said the city's Department of Police Accountability found that two SFPD officers used unnecessary force and violated multiple department policies, including improperly deploying pepper spray and citing Ludwig without cause.
A 2015 Debate Over Body-Camera Policy
The footage's release came amid an earlier debate over how San Francisco handles body-camera video more broadly. In a 2015 report, KQED described a draft policy moving toward adoption in early December and reported a sharp divide over whether officers involved in shootings should be allowed to review their own body-camera footage before giving statements. KQED noted that Oakland, by contrast, had required its officers to wear body cameras since 2013 and barred officers involved in shootings from viewing that footage before they're interviewed.
