Attack on San Francisco cop shows officers aren’t safe: union president

The head of the San Francisco police union claims a homeless man’s attack on a police officer shows that even cops aren’t safe on that city’s streets.

Tony Montoya, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, said severe staffing shortages and a “criminal-first agenda” by District Attorney Chesa Boudin is making patrol duties for the city’s cops unsafe following Friday’s attack in Chinatown on an officer of Asian descent.

“I’m very concerned,” Montoya told Fox News. “If it’s not safe for the police officers right now, what should the general public feel?”

Surveillance video released Sunday by the union shows a homeless man later identified as Gerardo Contreras, 33, wrestling an officer of Asian descent to the ground as she was trying to detain him. A group of bystanders then rushes in to save the female officer as she struggles with Contreras on the ground, the clip shows.

Several other officers responded to the scene and took Contreras into custody.

“We are deeply grateful to these citizens who rushed to our officer’s [aid],” union officials tweeted. “Our staffing shortage left this officer alone instead of with a partner.”

A police department spokesman told the San Francisco Chronicle the attack is being investigated as a possible hate crime.

“We are not confirming the suspect’s statements toward witnesses or the Asian female officer,” spokesman Robert Rueca told the newspaper. “Our investigation is looking at aspects of this assault on the officer which includes a possible hate crime and motive.”

The officer, who has not been publicly identified, is a five-year veteran who had bumps and bruises following the attack. Contreras was being held on assault and hate crime charges, according to jail records cited by the Chronicle.

Montoya told Fox News that more than 900 police officers are currently patrolling San Francisco at any given time, but the number keeps dropping due to retiring officers or those who left the department or law enforcement altogether.

“Here locally the cops just not feel supported — by our command staff, which is 22-person strong right now,” Montoya said. “And they don’t feel supported by their elected officials. So if you add all those factors in, it’s not really great material for a recruiting poster.”

Mayor London Breed introduced a budget proposal Tuesday to increase the number of cops on San Francisco streets to at least 1,224 officers. She also pledged to spend more than $1 billion over two years to address the city’s homelessness problem, Fox News reported.

Montoya told Fox News he thinks there’s “absolutely” a chance that Contreras, who remained held without bond Wednesday, would be freed, particularly if he has a history of drug addiction or mental health issues.

“If you look at the policy of our current district attorney’s criminal-first agenda, there’s a very high likelihood that this person will get released before facing any consequences for his actions,” Montoya said. “You see that day in and day out here in San Francisco.”

The caught-on-camera assault gives the public a “visual” of how dangerous the job has become for San Francisco cops, Montoya told the Chronicle, adding that it also indicated more housing and mental services are needed.

“She was approaching him very low-key, using a talking voice,” the union head said. “The guy was giving indications he would be compliant, but when she went to do a pat-down, he turned around [and] started attacking her.”

Montoya said Contreras had a history of prior arrests, but did not provide details, the Chronicle reported. The union president also told Fox News that two suspects in attacks on a Thai man in February and two elderly Asian women in May were not prosecuted for prior arrests.

Boudin’s office, meanwhile, pushed back on Montoya’s claims in a statement to The Post on Wednesday.

“The information in this piece is false; DA Boudin is working tirelessly to promote public safety for all San Franciscans, including by holding people who commit crimes accountable and by addressing root causes of crime,” spokeswoman Rachel Marshall said. “In both cited examples, our office is actively prosecuting the defendants on serious charges, and the defendants in both those cases are in jail at our office’s request.”