San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said Tuesday morning that he plans to speak with Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi about whether Mirkarimi is fit to continue serving in his post amidst allegations of domestic abuse.
Lee said he expects to have a discussion with Mirkarimi by "the end of the day today" about whether Mirkarimi can fulfill his duties while navigating court appearances leading up to a trial.
Mirkarimi will go on trial on Feb. 24 on three misdemeanor charges -- one charge each of domestic violent battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.
Mirkarimi will appear in court Thursday, when his attorney Bob Waggener will argue for the removal of a stay-away order that is preventing him from contacting his wife, Eliana Lopez, and the couple's 2-year-old son, Theo.
Lee would not say whether he would ask Mirkarimi to step down.
"It's incumbent upon the sheriff to make a decision," he said, noting that Mirkarimi must consider the effects the trial will have not only on the public but also on his staff.
Lee said Mirkarimi is already under a tremendous amount of pressure and that he does not want to add further pressure.
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"I'm not a political person. I don't put pressure on anybody," Lee said.
Also this week, an ex-girlfriend has come forward to report to police that Mirkarimi was also allegedly abusive toward her when they were dating.
The woman, who requested in the police report to remain anonymous but has been identified in interviews with media outlets as Christina Flores, filed a police report at the San Francisco Police Department's Northern Station on Sunday afternoon.
She told police she met Mirkarimi at the Haight Street fair in June 2007 and dated him until December 2008. During that time, she said, Mirkarimi showed a "raging pitbull aggressiveness," according to the police report.
In one incident, she told police, he pinned her against a wall and shook her, bruising her upper arm.
The report states that the relationship ended after Mirkarimi confessed that he had been seeing a woman from Venezuela and that the other woman was pregnant.
The report states that the alleged victim said she didn't come forward at the time because she felt humiliated, but filed the report now in light of the current domestic violence case against Mirkarimi.
Mirkarimi was sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 8 after serving for seven years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
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