Mother Sues SF Police Over Son's Death

The mother of a Washington state parolee who accidentally shot himself to death during a gunfight with San Francisco police last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

Photo: POLICE filePhoto: POLICE file

The mother of a Washington state parolee who accidentally shot himself to death during a gunfight with San Francisco police last year has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city.

Kenneth Wade Harding, 19, fatally wounded himself while running away from officers who stopped him on Third Street in the Bayview neighborhood for failing to pay a Muni fare, police said.

But in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Harding's mother Denika Chatman said police have some responsibility for her son's death and that officers failed to give him immediate medical care. Instead, they "left him writhing in pain with blood gushing out of his neck," the suit said.

Read the full San Francisco Chronicle story.

Related:

Police: SF Suspect Died of Self-Inflicted Wound

Parolee Fatally Shot In SF After Foot Pursuit (video)

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