Man shot by police on S.F.’s Market Street is identified

The man shot and killed by police Thursday afternoon at Eighth and Market streets in downtown San Francisco during an alleged struggle over a sergeant’s gun was identified as Herbert Benitez, the city medical examiner said Friday.

Benitez, 27, of San Francisco was shot when two police sergeants went to arrest him for throwing bottles in the road and he attempted to grab one of their firearms near U.N. Plaza, Police Chief Greg Suhr said.

The medical examiner’s office said that Benitez died from gunshot wounds to the torso and that his relatives had been notified.

The two sergeants involved in the shooting, both described by Suhr as department veterans, have been placed on routine paid administrative leave while the incident is investigated, police officials said Friday.

Investigations into the shooting were being conducted by the Police Department’s internal affairs and homicide units as well as the district attorney’s office and the Office of Citizens’ Complaints, officials said.

The incident began just after noon Thursday when a construction worker flagged down the two sergeants and an officer who were driving southbound on Eighth Street near Market Street, Suhr said.