Watch CBS News

Pastors To Pay Muni Fares At Site Of Fatal SFPD Shooting

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Local faith leaders will be on San Francisco Municipal Railways's T-line platforms Monday morning offering to pay the fares as a gesture to quell simmering anger following the recent fatal police shooting of a young parolee.

There have been protests and a raucous town hall meeting since July 13th when 19-year-old Kenneth Harding was in a gun battle with police. The incident began with a routine fare check on the Muni platform and escalated into the deadly shooting.

KCBS' Holly Quan Reports:

Rev. Ishmael Burch helped organize a big town hall meeting last week at which Police Chief Greg Suhr was shouted down. What they learned, he said, was that the community still needs to vent over perceived police bias.

"Bayview, keep your heads up," he said. "It's going to be over and we can move forward with some more positive strategies."

One of those strategies is to pay the Muni fares for young people to keep kids from sneaking on and running afoul of the law.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.