Black Mother Left With Concussion After Officer Slams Her Into Wall During Street Crossing Set to Receive $825K San Francisco Settlement

Christiana Porter is poised to receive $825,000 from San Francisco nearly two years after a police officer slammed her against a wall during a jaywalking stop that left her with a concussion and separated shoulder. The mother of six says the injuries still bother her and have kept her from returning to work.

Porter was crossing Second Avenue at Geary Boulevard on July 29, 2024, when Officer Josh McFall approached in a police SUV. According to Mission Local, which obtained video of the arrest, Porter crossed an empty street before McFall pursued her in the wrong direction on Geary Boulevard. Her lawsuit says she entered the crosswalk with eight seconds remaining on the pedestrian countdown.

Wearing large headphones, Porter appeared unaware that the police vehicle was following her until McFall stopped and moved directly into her path. She said she reached into her purse for identification after he asked for it, but McFall told her to remove her hand before pushing her against a wall.

"I'm not resisting. Get off of me," Porter cried out as a witness recorded the arrest. McFall ordered her to get on the ground and stop resisting while other officers arrived, drawing angry reactions from people watching nearby.

What began as a pedestrian stop sent Porter to the hospital multiple times. She reported suffering a concussion and separated shoulder, and her godfather later told Mission Local that she called him while being detained, describing nearly four minutes of screaming before he rushed to where she was being held.

Police cited Porter for resisting arrest after taking her to the station, but the San Francisco District Attorney's Office declined to prosecute her. California law generally prevents officers from stopping pedestrians for jaywalking unless a reasonably careful person would recognize an immediate danger of collision.

She sued San Francisco and McFall in March 2025, alleging an illegal detention and excessive force. San Francisco has now proposed paying $825,000 to resolve the federal civil rights lawsuit, with the settlement awaiting consideration by the Board of Supervisors' Government Audit and Oversight Committee.

McFall remains employed by the city, according to the San Francisco Standard, which reported that police did not answer its question about whether he had been disciplined. Mission Local previously reported that McFall was among several officers accused in a 2018 trespassing arrest that left an unhoused man with two broken arms.

Two years after Porter's arrest, pain from her shoulder and head continues to affect her. She told the San Francisco Standard she plans to use the settlement money to provide for her children and hopes to make a film about what happened to her.

"I'm very happy," Porter said, while adding that she hopes San Francisco police hold officers who harm residents responsible. She now wants to turn what happened to her into a film, saying she feels a duty to tell a story that she believes happens to many other people.