"BIG O" LEFITI: GENTLE GIANT

Weeks after I wrote a story about Asa's Sullivan's Death By Cop, the SFPD perpetrated another murder upon yet another young black man, the Saturday June 24, 2006, SFPD killing of a gentle, beloved giant, Oliver 'Big O' Lefiti, on Capp Street between 15th and 16th in the Mission. Officers may have shot this Samoan out of fear of his large size.

A Western Addition Brother stated the community is seething over this last in a series of slaughters and has just about had enough.

The photograph of the man Mike Lefiti, 36, called "my only older brother," "Big O," 37, is posted on yahoogroups "Justice4bigO" and the SF Bayview web site alongside Francisco Da Costa's story about this senseless killing.

Mike Lefiti said "Big O," was gunned down by SFPD after an anonymous caller phoned describing a suspicious dealer selling drugs out of a 1987 Honda Prelude. "The caller was just assuming," said Mike, putting Big O together with another person in a case of mistaken identity.

Big O worked as a bouncer at two night clubs, The Rawhide Club and Club 6 in SOMA at 6th and Market. "So, if anything, he was helping the police," said Mike.

People on the street at 16th and Mission knew him. "Oh, that's Big O. He works at the club."

"Only God knows what he was doing down there. Maybe he went to visit an acquaintance.

"Stolen vehicle?" asked Mike. Big O used to borrow Mike's truck. "He probably borrowed (the car) from a friend."

The police alleged Big O tried to run them over.

"Our attorney will get Forensics (and) CSI (Crime Scene Investigators) involved," affirmed Mike, to reconstruct the scene.

The family conducted leafletting and outreach requesting people step up to help them get answers and closure. Two witnesses came forward, "stating they saw police officers running in the rear shooting at the vehicle."

If Big O was driving toward police, why were they firing from behind?

One witness lives on Capp Street near the crime scene.

Finding a warrant on the other, police threw him in jail, criminalizing him and invalidating his testimony.

Mike urged community attendance at
Wednesday Police Commission meetings where he and Wendee Timbreza, Big O's wife, have testified.

He wants Commissioners advised, "You've got these cadets not knowing how to handle a situation like Big O's where they say, 'This guy's 6'3" 380. I can't stop this big freight train.'

"Intimidated by him, they panic, and they shoot."

Mike addressed Chief Heather Fong, suggesting training for "cadets" like the officers involved --- one with four years' duty, the other six --- on how to handle big people.

"I think they're still new in the game," he said.

He asked Fong, if it appears the police are being run over, "Couldn't they just shoot the tires out, or do you shoot to kill?"

Police and media "twisted Big O's character."

He was father to a 7-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son.

Mike called him a big, loud, "laughing machine full of jokes," --- gentle, humble, joyful, caring --- a nice guy.

His brother was Mike's only support and babysitter during a custody battle --- a good listener, hearing Mike out and giving advice, "there for me the whole time."

Head of the Usher Department at Bayview's Soul'd Out Christian Center, Mike observed, Big O "didn't go (to church) as much as I did because he had the whole nightclub thing, but he was a spiritual man, a Christian."

"We all have a past. The Streets know Big O."

He turned his life around, "cleaned himself up, got a job as a bouncer, met the perfect girl.

"He counseled kids at the Youth Guidance Center about his past. He didn't want a lot of Big O's out there.

"He was the perfect person to speak to the youth. He touched a lot of lives.

During the family's outreach, "So many people were like, "Big O's dead! Who would do such a thing?"

It was hard for Mike to understand why media and police labeled Big O a dope dealer "with two strikes on him."

The family will file with the Office of Citizen Complaints.

The funeral at Cypress Lawn funeral in Colma was attended by an estimated 200 people.

Said Mike, "One of the family members said --- and it blew me away --- 'We called him 'Big O' for a reason: He didn't have much, but he had a Big O Heart.'"