The San Francisco police union sued the city last week after the city approved a policy that bans officers from shooting at moving vehicles (aka fleeing vehicles) and from applying the controversial chokehold on any suspect!

The Union are making their case related to recent terror attacks throughout Europe where vehicles were used as deadly weapons.

Courthouse News reported:

The city currently faces a string of lawsuits over police killings, including the shooting death of 29-year-old Jessica Williams in May. Williams was shot dead by a police sergeant while attempting to flee in a stolen vehicle, according to the wrongful death suit filed by her family in October.

Williams’ death prompted the resignation of former Police Chief Greg Suhr, who faced mounting pressure to step down after a series of fatal police shootings and two sets of scandals over officers exchanging racist text messages.

The city announced last week it had selected Bill Scott, a black deputy police chief from Los Angeles, to head the San Francisco Police Department starting in late January after months of searching for a new chief.

The new use-of-force policy, unanimously approved by the city’s seven-member police commission on Dec. 21, also bans officers from using carotid restraints, the same kind of chokehold an officer used on Eric Garner in Staten Island in July 2014. Garner’s death, caused by the police chokehold, led to nationwide protests with police reform activists chanting Garner’s final words, “I can’t breathe.”

The union claims the city’s police commission had previously agreed to let officers continue using the chokehold technique with some new restrictions.

The newly approved policy comes more than two months after the Department of Justice issued 272 recommendations aimed at reforming the troubled city police department.

Under the new rules, officers are completely barred from shooting at moving vehicles unless a suspect is firing a gun from the vehicle.

In the lawsuit filed on Dec. 20, the San Francisco Police Officers’ Association claims the city failed to bargain in good faith with the union before approving the new policy in violation of the union’s memorandum of understanding with the city.

“If the commission is permitted to unilaterally implement the revised use of force policy, the POA’s ability to meet and confer meaningfully over the changes in working conditions contained within the policy will be irreparably harmed,” the 12-page complaint states.

Read more here.