SF cops honored for arresting suspect who tried to take officer's gun

Body-camera video shows the moment two San Francisco police officers caught up with a suspect after he had been driving recklessly in a stolen red Hyundai and took off from them.

As rookie Officer Casey Chow and Officer Anthony Quimbo of Northern Station approached the suspect near Jefferson Square Park in November, he refused to cooperate and struggled with the officers. 

"Didn't want to listen to any commands, and he started fighting with both of us," Quimbo said.

All three fell to the ground. That's when police say the suspect grabbed Chow's gun, using both hands to try to get it out of the holster.

"Get your hand off of his gun!" Quimbo yelled at the suspect.

He called into dispatch, "10-25!" requesting backup. "He's grabbing our gun!"

"There's definitely an adrenaline rush, definitely some fear. But at that moment, it's either fight or flight," Chow said.

Officer Quimbo hit the suspect to prevent him from grabbing Chow's gun.

Sheriff's deputies arrived to assist.

"Sheriff's units are 97. Show us taking one into cuffs," Quimbo said into his radio.

The suspect could have gotten shot, but he wasn't. 

"He was trying to grab my partner's gun," Quimbo told responding deputies. 

Chow told KTVU, "I think definitely if it were a different circumstance or different officers, I think deadly force definitely would have been justified."

Quimbo said, "At the end of the day, you know, I wasn't seriously hurt, my partner wasn't seriously hurt and, thankfully, the suspect wasn't seriously hurt, either."

At a City Hall ceremony on Wednesday, the officers were among those honored for their efforts.

"We call, and you come running," said Mayor Daniel Lurie. "You don't ask questions, you show up, and to me that is true public service."

Public service, says Chief Bill Scott, often goes unnoticed.

"It's always, ‘when it bleeds, it leads,’" Scott said. "And we see, usually, the worst stories. We don't get to tell the best stories."

Chow agreed, saying, "I think the police should be transparent about what happens, good and bad. I think it's great for the public to kind of get a glimpse of what we go through in a day."

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan

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