San Francisco

Activists, Frisco 5 Hunger Strikers Push Recall Efforts for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee

The push to remove Lee from City Hall comes a day after Police Chief Greg Suhr resigned.

Hunger strikers and activists are taking steps to begin a recall effort for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

The push to remove Lee from City Hall comes a day after Greg Suhr resigned from his post as police chief.

"I will do anything in my power to see that happens because he has failed our city," activist Cristina Gutierrez of the mayor.

Gutierrez is one of five hunger strikers who slept on the street for more than 10 days demanding Suhr be replaced after a string of officer-involved shootings.

After Suhr resigned Thursday, Gutierrez's group, Frisco 5, and other activists called for Lee to also step down.

"Somehow since he became mayor we're losing our homes and police are murdering people like crazy," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said the group on Friday afternoon filed a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition with the Department of Elections.

Acting Police Chief Toney Chaplin, who was appointed by Lee to the be the city's top cop, on Friday said the department has to move forward.

Chaplin, a 26-year veteran, said his top priorities include body camera rollouts for officers and re-examining the department's use of force policy.

"I'm going to do a top to bottom assessment of everything we do," Chaplin said.

Gutierrez is eager for the city's new top cop to meet the community.

Suhr resigned Thursday at the behest of the mayor, hours after a 29-year-old woman was shot to death by one of his sergeants.

The woman was identified by the medical examiner's office as San Francisco-resident Jessica Williams.

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