The family of a woman who was killed by a San Francisco police sergeant as she drove a suspected stolen car in the Bayview neighborhood — a shooting that led to the resignation of Chief Greg Suhr — filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.Jessica Williams , 29, was unarmed when she was killed May 19 after allegedly crashing into a parked truck while attempting to flee from two officers following a brief pursuit near Elmira Street and Shafter Avenue.

The wrongful-death lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, accuses Sgt. Justin Erb of using “objectively unreasonable” and “excessive” force when he fired at Williams, striking her once.

Williams was black and Erb is Asian American. The suit seeks unspecified damages on behalf of Williams’ mother, Carol Walker .

The San Francisco city attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not comment specifically on the suit because it had not been served with it.

But an office spokesman, John Coté , said the office’s preliminary investigation “reveals that Ms. Williams was in a stolen car apparently trying to avoid arrest when San Francisco police followed her into a cul-de-sac.

“While attempting to get away,” Coté said, “Williams accelerated the stolen car toward one of the responding officers, placing him in immediate peril and justifying his use of lethal force.”

Subsequent investigation, he said, found Williams had “a significant amount of methamphetamine in her system at the time of the incident, which might explain her erratic conduct.”

The issue of police officers firing at drivers in vehicles had been hotly debated in the months before the incident.

Officers are permitted to use deadly force on suspects who present an imminent threat, but not those seeking to get away. In addition, police tactics experts have long described shooting at cars as unsafe, because a vehicle operated by a person who is shot may continue to move and hurt someone.

A growing number of law enforcement agencies, including the New York Police Department , have restricted the practice.

Following the Dec. 2 shooting of Mario Woods, also in the Bayview neighborhood, the city Police Commission reopened the department’s use-of-force policy for the first time since 1995.

Under the previous policy, officers were prohibited from firing at a moving vehicle unless the driver was threatening to use another deadly weapon like a gun; or the driver had already committed violence and appeared bent on doing more; or the driver was about to run down the officer, who had no way to retreat.

After the shooting, the Police Commission tightened the policy, passing a version that allows for firing at the driver of a moving vehicle only if the driver threatens to use another deadly weapon.

The police officers’ union, which is negotiating proposed revisions with the city, has long said officers need to have the option to fire at moving vehicles in some circumstances.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which did a collaborative review of the Police Department following the Woods shooting, supported the more restrictive version.

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