SFPD union asks court to halt policy that bars shooting at cars

Video: San Francisco Police Union Fires Back On Use Of Force Policy

The San Francisco police union went to court Friday to ask a Superior Court judge to grant a temporary restraining order that would delay rollout of a new use-of-force policy passed by the Police Commission this week.

Police Officers Association officials brought a lawsuit asserting that the city’s Police Commission violated the union’s collective bargaining rights by going forward with a policy that prohibits officers from using a carotid restraint neck hold and from shooting at moving vehicles.

After both sides presented their case Friday, a judge agreed to hear further arguments Tuesday, after spending time researching the topic.

Police a block from the site of the officer involved shooting on the 200 block of Montana Street on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. Police a block from the site of the officer involved shooting on the 200 block of Montana Street on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close SFPD union asks court to halt policy that bars shooting at cars 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

The Police Commission reopened the use-of-force policy for the first time since 1995 in December 2015, after the fatal shooting of Mario Woods in the Bayview neighborhood was caught on video, sparking public outrage and a push for police reform.

A version of the policy that puts an emphasis on de-escalating conflict and using minimal force was passed in June, with the union and community stakeholders “agreeing to disagree” on the issue of shooting at moving vehicles and the use of the carotid restraint. The union says officers’ safety would be compromised by the restrictions.

The hope was that the two sides could reach an agreement on those two sections during meet-and-confer negotiations granted to the Police Officers Association for any changes in working conditions. But the city declared an impasse in October, and the union filed a grievance in hopes of bringing the matter to binding arbitration.

That’s what the union still hopes to do with its lawsuit, said President Martin Halloran, though the civil action could delay the rollout of the policy. The city attorney’s office said the policy, in its current form, could be ready for enactment as early as next week.

“This has become such a hot-button issue, it would be best if a neutral party decided it,” Halloran said outside court.

City attorneys say barring the carotid hold and prohibiting shooting at vehicles are considered management rights, not changes in working conditions subject to union approval.

Union attorney Gregg Adam said officers’ safety must be negotiated. But Katie Porter, the city’s chief labor attorney, said outside court that officers’ safety is “so inexplicably intertwined with the policy decision itself that it ... is not subject to bargaining.”

Police commissioners have noted that using the carotid restraint and shooting at moving vehicles are not considered best practices by experts with the U.S. Department of Justice’s community policing division and President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.

While some say the carotid hold can be a useful tactic on a large subject, many experts warn that a carotid hold can shift into a fatal choke hold, as in the case of Eric Garner in New York.

The commission held that shooting at moving vehicles is often unnecessary, if a suspect is trying to flee, or dangerous, because a car with an incapacitated operator may not stop. Permitting the practice may allow officers to put themselves in perilous situations — such as stepping in the path of a car — in which they are forced to shoot their way out.

But the union launched a dramatic ad campaign arguing that officers must be allowed to shoot at moving vehicles if a motorist is trying to use the vehicle as a deadly weapon, citing the truck rampage in Nice, France. The Police Commission maintained that the policy has a carve-out for exceptional circumstances.

In May, a San Francisco sergeant shot an unarmed woman in a stolen car, a killing that prompted the resignation of then-Chief Greg Suhr. A Chronicle analysis found that from 2000 to 2015, almost a quarter of police shootings in the city involved suspects in moving or stopped vehicles.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo