November 27, 2002

THE FIRST NEWS was bad enough: three young off-duty cops accused of brutally assaulting a pair of men outside a Union Street bar Nov. 20.

According to the daily papers and TV reports, officers Alex Fagan Jr., Matt Tonsing, and David Lee apparently accosted Jade Santoro and Adam Snyder at 2:30 a.m. The verbal confrontation allegedly escalated to a full-on melee in which the cops kicked, punched, choked, and threw bottles at Santoro and Snyder.

Then it got worse: citing anonymous sources, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the cops who responded to the attack failed to follow standard investigative procedures – suggesting a cover-up. District Attorney Terence Hallinan has publicly blasted the police response to the incident.

According to the Chron and to Hallinan, the officers accused of the assault were allowed to leave the crime scene, didn't have their bodies or clothes checked for blood stains, and weren't tested for alcohol or drugs. In other words, the responding officers – either through negligence or intent – didn't do the basic things cops are supposed to do when investigating a crime.

Law enforcement sources who spoke to the Bay Guardian told us the police on the scene bungled the probe by not detaining and questioning the officers and by not collecting crucial evidence.

Fagan Jr. is the son of the San Francisco Police Department's second-in-command, assistant chief Alex Fagan. Tonsing and Lee are both sons of S.F. cops. None have been charged with a crime. The SFPD's Management Control Division is investigating the incident, and Hallinan has promised to do his own probe.

The double standard here is glaring, and it's hard to have any faith in the SFPD's ability to conduct a fair investigation. The San Francisco Police Commission should appoint a special prosecutor and turn this inquiry over to someone outside the department.

Hallinan needs to quickly and aggressively pursue his own investigation – and as soon as it's complete, he needs to either file charges (which would allow a public airing of the evidence) or make all of the details of his inquiry public.