DA: No charge in alleged attack by police employee

A Sausalito city employee accused of throwing a rock at a homeless woman at Marinship Park last year will not be charged, the district attorney’s office said.

The incident at the city-run homeless camp in September involved Michael McKinley, a part-time emergency services coordinator for the Sausalito Police Department.

Holly Wild filed a complaint with the city, saying McKinley threw rocks in her direction on Sept. 10 as she was watched through a fence while a boat was being crushed at the Army Corps of Engineers debris yard, where illegally moored vessels deemed unfit are towed for destruction.

The DA’s office declined to comment Monday on how the decision was reached.

Robbie Powelson, a housing activist, said Wild has since left Sausalito. He said she became a resident of the camp after her boat was deemed unseaworthy and destroyed by the Richardson’s Bay Regional Authority.

McKinley remains on unpaid administrative leave pending the conclusion of an internal investigation into the incident, said Sausalito police Chief John Rohrbacher.

Rohrbacher said he authorized an independent investigation by Command Consulting and Investigations, a consulting firm in Sonoma County. The firm also will look into whether two members of the Sausalito Police Department violated any policies and procedures in the course of looking into the incident.

“We’re disappointed in the decision. We disagree with the decision.”

— Anthony Prince, lawyer for homeless campers

Rohrbacher said there is no timeline for the firm’s investigation. Generally, information related to employee personnel matters are considered confidential and are not shared with the public, he said.

Anthony Prince, an attorney who is representing homeless campers in an ongoing civil case against the city, said he might contact the district attorney’s office for more information. He said assault or criminal threats charges were validated by a recording of the incident.

“We’re disappointed in the decision. We disagree with the decision. We think that there is sufficient evidence on which a charge could be brought,” he said.

Powelson said a group of homeless advocates and former anchor-outs are planning a protest outside the office of District Attorney Lori Frugoli on Thursday. He said that while Frugoli declined to file charges against McKinley, “she is prosecuting many people who live out on the anchorage for resisting the RBRA.”