Suspect arrested in connection with fatal shooting of Dacari Spiers, victim of notorious San Francisco Police Department brutality case in 2019

A man was arrested for killing the main character in a high-profile 2019 police brutality case that dominated San Francisco headlines during the Chesa Boudin era. Additionally, the San Francisco Police Department has arrested a 43-year-old man for the fatal shooting of Dacari Spiers in June.

In June, we reported on a fatal shooting in the Mission District in which an unnamed man was shot and killed around 4 a.m. on Saturday, June 15. The Chronicle reported that the victim “was at an illegal gambling establishment when he was shot,” and in the days since, we learned that the victim was Dacari Spiers, who was in the news for being severely beaten by police in Fisherman’s Wharf in 2019, leading to a high-profile criminal trial against the officer in 2022.

When we learned Spiers was the victim, there were no suspects. But now, more than three weeks after the shooting, Mission Local reports that San Francisco Police have made an arrest in connection with Spiers’ killing and the suspected shooter is 43-year-old Hin Hoang.

Hoang was arrested early on the morning of July 3 at his private residence on Harold Street between Holloway and Grafton Streets. According to Mission Local, Hoang had previously been charged with weapons and marijuana possession in 2006.

Dacari Spiers inadvertently landed in the news on the evening of October 6, 2019, when police responded to a domestic violence call allegedly involving Spiers near Fisherman’s Wharf. The police response quickly turned violent, and SFPD Officer Terrance Stangel repeatedly struck the unarmed Spiers with a baton, breaking his wrist and leg and leaving him in the condition shown below.

Spiers was never charged in the incident and received $700,000 in civil damages for his injuries. Then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin charged Officer Stangel with assault in late 2020, leading to what is believed to be the first known excessive force trial against an SFPD officer acting in the line of duty.

The high-profile trial was a major local headline in 2022, as police claimed Boudin’s office withheld evidence that would have proved Spiers’ guilt on the domestic violence charge. Spiers and his then-girlfriend both testified that there was no domestic violence. But the jury sided with Officer Stangel, acquitting him of three counts and failing to agree on a fourth count.

According to Mission Local, Spiers leaves behind two children. He was 36 years old.

Related: Jury reaches verdict and acquits SFPD officer on three counts of use of force, disagrees on one count (SFist)