SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco's police chief resigned Thursday at the request of the mayor hours after an officer fatally shot a young black woman driving a stolen car — the culmination of several racially charged incidents in the past year. 
 
 Pressure had been mounting for the resignation of Chief Greg Suhr since December, when five officers fatally shot a young black man carrying a knife. Since then, there have been protests, moves to reform the police department and a federal review of its protocol. 
 
 Mayor Ed Lee supported the chief in December and again in April after it was disclosed that three officers had exchanged racist text messages. 
 
 The texting scandal was the second to rock the department after it was disclosed that several officers had exchanged racist messages dating back to before Suhr was chief. But Suhr was criticized for moving too slowly to fire the offending officers, all of whom have retained their jobs because of the chief's failure to start disciplinary action when he first found out about the inappropriate. 
 
 Suhr could not be reached for comment Thursday. 
 
 Protesters demanding Suhr's resignation drowned out the mayor's second inaugural speech in January, and demonstrators forced the mayor to abandon a planned speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day later that month. 
 
 Nonetheless, the mayor stood behind the chief, and the two announced a series of reforms aimed at reducing police shootings. The two also called in the U.S. Department of Justice to review the department's policy and procedures. 
 
 Suhr renewed his call for reform April 8 after an officer shot and killed a Latino homeless man who police said refused orders to drop a large knife. 
 
 But Suhr lost Lee's backing Thursday, after a patrol car prowling an industrial neighborhood for stolen vehicles came across a 27-year-old black woman sitting behind the wheel of a parked car. 
 
 Police said the car had been reported stolen. 
 
 Officers turned on the patrol car's lights and sounded its siren, and the woman to sped off in the stolen car. A few second later and about 100 feet away, the stolen car slammed into a parked utility truck. 
 
 The officers jumped out of the patrol car and raced to the wreckage, where the woman was revving the car in an effort to disengage the auto from the truck. Suhr said a witness reported that the officers opened the driver's door and began grabbing the woman in attempt to arrest her. 
 
 At that point, a sergeant fired one fatal round. 
 
 "This is exactly the kind of thing with all the reforms we are trying to prevent," Suhr said Thursday, less than two hours after the shooting and before he resigned. 
 
 The mayor said he asked for and received Suhr's resignation. 
 
 "The progress we've made has been meaningful, but it hasn't been fast enough," Lee said in a brief statement at City Hall. "Not for me, not for Greg." 
 
 Neither the police nor the San Francisco Medical Examiner has released the identity of the dead woman. She was shot in the same neighborhood where the five officers shot and killed Mario Woods, the 26-year-old black man carrying a knife. 
 
 Video of Woods' shooting circulated widely online and led to protests and calls for Suhr's resignation. 
 
 But at the time, the chief still enjoyed the backing of the mayor and other community leaders, who said they wanted to give Suhr time to implement the reforms he promised. 
 
 "Some of the reforms underway might have prevented or clarified today's incident," the mayor said Thursday. "We need to turn these plans into actions." 
 
 Lee appointed Suhr chief in 2011. He was a 34-year veteran of the department who rose through the ranks despite several professional missteps. 
 
 He was demoted from deputy chief to captain in 2009 after failing to file a police report after a female friend told him she had been assaulted by her boyfriend. 
 
 The city last year paid $725,000 to settle a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a former department lawyer who recommended Suhr be fired for failing to report his friend's assault. When Suhr became chief, he fired the lawyer. 
 
 Suhr was also re-assigned from head of patrol in 2005 to guarding the city's water supply, which was widely viewed as a demotion. 
 
 Two years earlier, he was one of several officers indicted in the city's so-called "Fajitagate" for allegedly trying to cover up an investigation of three off-duty officers who had beaten up a waiter and took his bag of Mexican food. The indictment was tossed out. 
 
 On Thursday, the mayor appointed Deputy Chief Toney Chaplin as acting chief. He is a 26-year veteran of the department, and he's black. 
 
 "Toney Chaplin has the charisma, chemistry and courage to lead this department," said Rev. Amos Brown, the president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP. 
 
 Brown, like the mayor, had also supported Suhr throughout the department's turmoil. Brown said the problems with the department in particular and police in general "are bigger than one man." ||||| SFPD Chief Greg Suhr resigns after police killing of woman 
 
 San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr resigned Thursday at the request of Mayor Ed Lee, hours after the fatal police shooting of a woman renewed questions about whether the Police Department had lost the confidence of minority communities in the city. 
 
 Lee had stood by the chief he appointed in 2011 through two controversial police shootings within the past six months and revelations that a number of officers had exchanged racist and homophobic text messages. But at a late-afternoon news conference at City Hall, the mayor said that after Thursday’s shooting, he had “arrived at a different conclusion to the question of how best to move forward.” 
 
 “The progress we have made has been meaningful, but it hasn’t been fast enough, not for me and not for Greg, and that’s why I have asked Chief Suhr for his resignation,” Lee said in remarks that lasted five minutes. 
 
 Lee named as acting Police Chief Toney Chaplin, 47, a deputy chief overseeing the department’s professional standards and principled policing bureau. The mayor said that he and the Police Commission would begin a national search for a permanent replacement. 
 
 The announcement came after Lee and Suhr met in the mayor’s office, with the departing chief exiting a side door without speaking to reporters. Chaplin stood at Lee’s side during the news conference. 
 
 Suhr’s resignation came after a tumultuous day that began when two officers came upon a black woman in a sedan on the edge of the Bayview district. The officers suspected the car was stolen, but before they could question the woman, she drove off, police said. 
 
 The car crashed into a utility truck a short distance away. Although no weapon was found on the woman and the car was wedged under the truck, a police sergeant fired a single shot, killing her, police said. 
 
 Probe just starting 
 
 Police said the shooting investigation was in its early stages. Lee agreed that “the facts are still emerging,” but said, “These officer-involved shootings, justified or not, have forced our city to open its eyes to questions of when and how police use lethal force.” 
 
 Lee said police shootings had “shaken and divided our city, and tensions between law enforcement and communities of color that have simmered for too many years have come into full view. ... The community is grieving, and I join them in that grief.” 
 
 Lee added, “In this solemn moment, we must put aside politics and begin to heal the city.” 
 
 For the mayor, the shooting happened under the worst circumstances at the worst possible time — what appeared to be an unarmed woman who was black, shot by a sergeant who apparently used none of the de-escalation tactics that Suhr and Lee had been pushing for months. 
 
 Before the shooting, there was a feeling in the mayor’s office that public anger about police conduct had peaked and that the chief could stay in his position, at least for several months, said a source close to Lee who was not authorized to speak for attribution. 
 
 Thursday’s shooting made that possibility untenable, the source said. 
 
 Lee appointed Suhr, 57, in April 2011 when George Gascón became district attorney. A 30-year veteran of the force at the time, Suhr had the backing of the police union and state Attorney General Kamala Harris, Gascón’s predecessor as district attorney. 
 
 But Suhr presided over a series of controversies, including the arrests of officers, allegations of racism and racial profiling in the force, and disputed officer-involved shootings. 
 
 Two shootings in particular had resulted in calls for Suhr to resign — the December killing of 26-year-old Mario Woods, a stabbing suspect who appeared to be stumbling along a Bayview sidewalk with a knife in his hand when officers shot him more than 20 times, and the April killing in the Mission District of Luis Gongora, 45, a homeless man holding a knife who was shot by an officer less than 30 seconds into a sidewalk confrontation. 
 
 Suhr initially defended the officers involved in the Woods shooting, but backtracked as videos circulated that called into question whether Woods had posed an immediate threat. After viewing video of the Gongora incident, Suhr said officers had not appeared to try to de-escalate the situation. 
 
 The U.S. Justice Department division in charge of police-community relations is conducting a top-to-bottom review of San Francisco police, and the Police Commission is wrestling with a series of proposals for changing the department’s use-of-force rules. 
 
 Calls for ouster 
 
 Even before Thursday, Suhr had lost the support of four progressives on the 11-member Board of Supervisors. One of those who had stuck by the chief, Supervisor Norman Yee, said that “with this recent incident today, which is tragic, I think the mayor is doing the right thing asking for his resignation.” 
 
 “The chief is a good guy,” Yee said. “He does care about people in San Francisco. And I’m sure that weighed into this decision.” 
 
 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who had declined to comment earlier on whether Suhr should stay, said, “It was an untenable situation, and what needed to happen has happened. The events of this morning were above and beyond the pale.” 
 
 Supervisor Scott Wiener had called for Suhr to stay on, and said nothing that happened Thursday changed that. 
 
 “I don’t agree with the decision,” Wiener said. “I continue to have confidence in and enormous respect for Greg Suhr.” 
 
 The board’s most progressive members — Supervisors Jane Kim, David Campos, Eric Mar and John Avalos — abandoned Suhr after protests spread in reaction to the earlier shootings. Five people went on a 17-day hunger strike to try to force his departure. 
 
 The mood was subdued, not celebratory, Thursday evening in front of City Hall, where several dozen people — many of whom had been demanding Suhr be fired — gathered after the resignation was announced. Activists said they did not consider Suhr’s departure a victory. 
 
 “It feels strange to celebrate when another person is dead at the hands of SFPD,” said Chiedza Kundidzora, 33, of San Francisco. 
 
 In a speech before the crowd, Nation of Islam Minister Christopher Muhammad said Suhr’s resignation came too late. 
 
 “The mayor knew that this chief should have been gone six months ago,” he said. “We’re more angry now because two more souls have lost their life since Mario Woods’ murder.” 
 
 Lee “was playing politics with the lives of black and brown and poor people, and that’s a crime against humanity,” Muhammad said. “We’re not happy about this. Now we might have to fire the mayor.” 
 
 Outside the Hall of Justice, most rank-and-file officers declined to comment on Suhr’s departure. A few said he would be missed, especially among long-term veterans who had worked under him for years. 
 
 “Sad to see him go. He was a good guy,” said Officer Jimmy Lewis, a 29-year veteran. Lewis had been disciplined 10 years ago for his involvement in a scandal known as “Videogate,” in which officers in the department’s Bayview Station made a racist, sexist and homophobic videotape. 
 
 Suhr, then deputy chief, “helped me out,” Lewis said. “It was a difficult time for me. He gave me moral support.” 
 
 Support from officers 
 
 “He is probably one of the more progressive chiefs the department has had,” said Officer G. Latus, a 19-year veteran. 
 
 Martin Halloran, head of the Police Officers Association, issued a statement calling Suhr “a cop’s cop” and labeling his departure “a great disappointment.” 
 
 “His strong leadership, his innovative programs and his hands-on approach have set a standard in the department that will be difficult to repeat,” Halloran said. 
 
 He added that the union would work with acting Chief Chaplin, whom Halloran called “more than capable of leading this fine department during this transition.” 
 
 Emily Green, Jenna Lyons, Bob Egelko and Erin Allday are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com, jlyons@sfchronicle.com, begelko@sfchronicle.com, eallday@sfchronicle.com ||||| SFPD boss Greg Suhr resigns just hours after officers fatally shot a 27-year-old black woman and as the police department faces a bigotry scandal 
 
 San Francisco police chief Greg Suhr resigned on Thursday, at the request of mayor Ed Lee and just hours after police officers shot and killed a black woman in the city’s Bayview neighborhood. 
 
 Suhr is one of a growing number of police chiefs to lose their jobs in the wake of widespread protest of fatal police shootings, especially of blacks and Latinos, and a national debate about excessive use of force. 
 
 He follows Anthony Batts, the police chief of Baltimore who was fired following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and ensuing riots; Thomas Jackson, police chief of Ferguson, who stepped down following a scathing federal investigation into racial bias; and Garry McCarthy, police chief of the Chicago, who was fired following the release of video of the shooting of Laquan McDonald. 
 
 In recent months, calls for Suhr to resign have intensified amid a string of fatal shootings and scandals. But as recently as two days ago he had assured the San Francisco Chronicle that he had no intention of stepping down. 
 
 San Francisco's liberal image marred by scandal-prone police department Read more 
 
 “I have previously expressed confidence in chief Suhr because I know he agrees with and understands the need for reform,” the mayor said at a hastily convened press conference. 
 
 “The progress that we’ve made has been meaningful, but it hasn’t been fast enough. Not for me, and not for Greg,” Lee added. 
 
 
 
 Lee named Toney Chaplin as acting police chief. The 26-year veteran of the force had been acting as deputy chief of professional standards and principled policing, in charge of carrying out reforms. 
 
 Four members of the city’s 11-member board of supervisors called for Suhr’s resignation on 11 May 2015, and he was the subject of frequent protest, including a 17-day hunger strike by a group of five local activists. 
 
 But the embattled chief maintained the support of the mayor throughout, until Thursday’s fatal shooting of a 27-year-old black woman in an allegedly stolen car. 
 
 Earlier Thursday, Suhr told reporters that the woman had driven away when approached by police, then quickly crashed the car. 
 
 One of the officers, a sergeant, fired a single shot at the woman, striking her. The officers immediately removed the woman from her car and administered CPR, Suhr said. The woman, who has not been identified, was transported to the hospital, where she died. 
 
 Thursday’s incident was the third fatal police shooting in San Francisco in six months. 
 
 Police brutality and homelessness collide in aftermath of San Francisco killing Read more 
 
 In April, police shot and killed Luis Gongora, a homeless man who they claimed had charged at the officers with a knife. Numerous eye witnesses challenged the police version of the incident, which surveillance footage showed unfolded in just 30 seconds. 
 
 In December, Mario Woods, a 26-year-old black man, died in a barrage of gunfire less than two miles from today’s shooting. Bystander video of the shooting contradicted police statements that Wood, who was carrying a knife, extended his arm toward police prior to their opening fire. 
 
 The fatal shootings came at a time when the department was already under intense scrutiny. 
 
 In March 2015, court filings from a federal investigation into police corruption revealed racist and homophobic text messages exchanged by a group of 14 officers. The messages – which included statements such as “all niggers must fucking hang” and “cross burning lowers blood pressure” – compromised thousands of criminal cases. 
 
 
 
 In March 2016, a group of four more officers were implicated in exchanging racist and homophobic text messages. Their messages were revealed in the course of criminal investigations into two of the officers. 
 
 The department has long been criticized for disproportionate policing of black people. Though the city is just 5.8% black, black adults make up 40% of all arrests in the city. Black adults in San Francisco are seven times more likely to be arrested than whites, according to a 2015 study. 
 
 Sgt Yulanda Williams, a frequent critic of racism in the department and the head of Officers for Justice, a group advocating for black police in San Francisco, praised Suhr’s decision to resign. 
 
 “He was so committed to reforms that are necessary for the police department,” Williams said. “If he felt that he was a distraction from getting them done, I think that is very admirable.” 
 
 Williams also praised the incoming acting chief, who she said has was the best choice for the job. 
 
 “We’ve had a department that was kind of in a critical situation. There were revelations coming out every week – things that were not flattering to law enforcement and our uniform,” she said. “Toney Chaplin will not tolerate this kind of activity.” 
 
 In announcing Suhr’s resignation, Lee appealed to San Franciscans to unite around his plans for police reform. 
 
 “My fellow San Franciscans, we must push forward, harder than ever before, to reform the Police Department and restore trust with every community and keep our city safe,” he said. “In this solemn moment, we must put aside politics and begin to heal the city.” 
 
 But with the circumstances around Thursday’s fatal shooting still unclear, community activists are unlikely to be appeased. 
 
 In a statement on their Facebook page, the activists who held a hunger strike, known as the Frisco 5, called for further action, including a meeting with the acting chief to discuss “real reform” and the resignation of the mayor. 
 
 
 

– The fatal police shooting of an unarmed black woman Thursday was the final straw for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who asked for and received the resignation of police Chief Greg Suhr within hours. Lee, who appointed Suhr in 2011, had stood by the chief through previous controversies, including other police shootings and a recent scandal involving racist and homophobic text messages exchanged by officers, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. In brief remarks at City Hall Thursday afternoon, the mayor said he wants to "heal the city" and that the "progress we have made has been meaningful, but it hasn't been fast enough." Last week, four members of the 11-member city board of supervisors called for the chief's resignation, the Guardian reports. "The past several months have shaken and divided our city, and tensions between law enforcement and communities of color that have simmered for too many years have come into full view," Lee said. In Thursday's incident, the unarmed 27-year-old woman was shot dead as officers tried to pull her out of a stolen car she had crashed into a truck, the AP reports. Authorities have not identified the woman or the sergeant who fired the fatal round. Toney Chaplin, a 26-year veteran of the force, has been named as acting police chief. Chaplin, who is black, had been tasked with carrying out reforms as deputy chief of professional standards and principled policing.