SF Mayor Calls Sheriff Mirkarimi A Wife Beater As Ethics Probe Begins
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was labeled a wife beater Tuesday by San Francisco's mayor, who maintained Mirkarimi isn't fit to remain in office and should be removed.
"As one of the top law enforcement officials for the city, he ought not to have engaged in the beating of his wife," Mayor Ed Lee told reporters at an impromptu news conference shortly before the city's Ethics Commission opened a multi-day administrative hearing on official misconduct charges against the sheriff.
The commission on Tuesday evening at City Hall began wading through witness accounts in determining whether Mirkarimi should keep his job despite a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction.
Mirkarimi's next-door-neighbors, the sheriff and others have all already submitted written statements with their accounts of what they say transpired. Some of the key figures in the case, such as Mirkarimi and Lee, have been requested to appear in front of the commission for cross-examination
The commission will forward its recommendation to the Board of Supervisors, which will ultimately determine Mirkarimi's fate. Mirkarimi served as a supervisor for seven years before being elected sheriff last November.
KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:
The sheriff was suspended without pay by the mayor after he pleaded guilty on March 12 to a false imprisonment charge related to a New Year's Eve argument with his wife in which he grabbed and bruised her arm. Mirkarimi was sentenced to three years' probation and other penalties following the guilty plea.
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