Hours after a San Francisco police officer fatally shot a young black woman, the city's mayor called for Police Chief Greg Suhr's resignation.
According to the Associated Press, Suhr had been under fire since December, when five officers were caught on video shooting a young black man, Mario Woods, who was wielding a knife. Then, in April, racist text messages among three officers were leaked. Although several of the text messages dated to before Suhr's tenure, Suhr was criticized for moving slowly to discipline the officers once the matter was brought to his attention.
Suhr's resignation Thursday came hours after an incident involving police finding a 27-year-old black woman sitting behind the wheel of a reportedly stolen car. According to police, the woman, whose name has not been released, sped off when she noticed the officers and, shortly afterward, crashed into a parked utility truck, AP reports.
According to the report, the woman began revving the car in an attempt to flee. Officers were attempting to grab the woman from the car when a police sergeant fired one fatal round, Suhr said hours after the shooting.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee then asked for and received Suhr's resignation.
"The progress we've made has been meaningful, but it hasn't been fast enough," Lee said in a brief statement at City Hall, AP reports. "Not for me, not for Greg."
The mayor announced that Deputy Chief Toney Chaplin, a 26-year veteran of the force, would be acting chief.
"Toney Chaplin has the charisma, chemistry and courage to lead this department," the Rev. Amos Brown, president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, told AP.
Read more at the Associated Press.