XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: sac.politics, alt.war.civil.usa   
   From: vacancy@kamala.harris   
      
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   Content warning: This article contains detailed descriptions of an alleged   
   sexual assault.   
      
   San Francisco police officers testified today that the woman allegedly   
   sexually assaulted by a city commissioner in late August said she did not know   
   her assailant when he approached her in the Mission District and offered her a   
   ride.   
      
   William Palmer, who sits on two city commissions, is alleged to have sexually   
   assaulted the victim, whose name has not been disclosed, on Aug. 30.   
      
   Palmer, 53, was arrested on Nov. 9 for sodomy and sexual battery, and has   
   pleaded not guilty. He became a minor celebrity upon his release from prison   
   in 2019 after more than 30 years, and became an advocate for reentry programs   
   before being appointed to    
   the first-ever Sheriff’s Oversight Board in 2021 and the Reentry Council on   
   the city’s Sentencing Commission.   
      
   Sgt. Meighan Lyons of the San Francisco Police Department’s Special Victims   
   Unit testified during Palmer’s preliminary hearing today that the victim,   
   who was identified as Lina in court, accepted a ride from Palmer, a stranger,   
   while she was walking    
   from a bar to a Mission BART station, because “he was being very nice and   
   polite.”   
      
   The case raises questions about vetting of city officials: Palmer had also   
   been arrested in May following an alleged violent incident with his   
   girlfriend, but was reappointed to his post as a sheriff oversight board   
   member this summer by the Board of    
   Supervisors. Board President Aaron Peskin has since called for Palmer’s   
   resignation.   
      
   The encounter with Lina allegedly took place between 10 p.m. and midnight.   
      
   Lina, who spoke with police in Spanish or through a translator service, was   
   unfamiliar with San Francisco; investigators said they were unable to   
   determine which BART station, or which area of the Mission she was in.   
      
   Once in Palmer’s car, Lyons said, Lina agreed to go to Palmer’s home in   
   the Lower Haight to drink some beer.   
      
   After the pair arrived at Palmer’s house, however, Lina told investigators   
   that Palmer “became aggressive” and sexually assaulted her. Officers who   
   took Lina’s statements said she claimed Palmer punched her in the face and   
   strangled her, causing    
   her to nearly black out.   
      
   “She felt as if her eyes went black, then she came back to,” testified   
   SFPD Officer Alexander Ortega today. “He released his arms and she was able   
   to see again.”   
      
   Ultimately, Palmer offered to drive Lina back to BART, and the two left his   
   apartment together, court filings allege. At this point, Lina told officers,   
   she escaped by jumping out of the car at a stoplight, running to a neighboring   
   house, and calling 911.   
      
   Ortega, who responded to the scene, said Lina was “crying and distraught.”   
      
   Ortega said that surveillance footage from Palmer’s street confirms Lina’s   
   story: It shows the woman suddenly exit the car and run toward another house,   
   while Palmer stops his car, reverses toward the woman, and briefly gets out of   
   the car to pursue    
   her. The video was not shown in court.   
      
   Photos entered into evidence today also showed some of her injuries: A cut and   
   bloodied lip, a cut on her finger where Palmer allegedly bit her, and photos   
   of her neck where she alleged she was strangled.   
      
   Palmer, who remains in jail, has been charged with sodomy by use of force,   
   assault with intent to commit a felony, false imprisonment, assault with force   
   likely to commit great bodily injury, and sexual battery by restraint.   
      
   It is unclear why it took more than a month for Palmer to be arrested, even   
   though the victim reported the physical assault the night of the incident, and   
   revealed that she was sexually assaulted a day later. The case was sent to the   
   Special Victims Unit    
   on Sept. 1, and Lina was then screened for sexual assault — Lyons revealed   
   today that no other DNA besides her own was found on Lina or her clothes.   
      
      
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