Suspension keeps Alex Fagan Jr. from completing job probation
The San Francisco Chronicle
Alex Fagan Jr., the embattled rookie son of San Francisco’s acting police chief, has been let go by the San Francisco Police Department, sources said Sunday.
Defense attorney Jim Collins, who is representing Fagan Jr. in a forthcoming assault trial, confirmed that his 24-year-old client had been “released by the department because he did not complete his probationary period in the required 126 weeks.”
Fagan Jr. is the central figure in a Police Department scandal that led to the criminal indictments earlier this year of 10 officers, including the top brass -- Police Chief Earl Sanders and Fagan Jr.'s father, Assistant Chief Alex Fagan Sr., who is now acting police chief. Indictments against all but three officers were later tossed.
Fagan Jr.'s departure from the department comes seven months after his involvement in the Nov. 20 street fight on Union Street that led to the indictments. His exit also comes in the wake of criticism that he had been in a string of violent encounters with suspects very quickly after he graduated from the police academy. Within his first 13 months on patrol, Fagan Jr. was involved in 16 use-of-force incidents, The Chronicle reported earlier.
PROBATION REQUIREMENTS
Civil service rules require police officers to complete their probation within 126 weeks, and sources within the department said Fagan was unable to do so because he was suspended following his Feb. 27 indictment by a criminal grand jury.
Collins insisted that Fagan Jr. had neither been terminated nor dismissed as a disciplinary action, but rather “released.”
It is not unusual for rookie officers to lose their jobs from failure to complete their probation within 126 weeks. Pregnancies or nonduty medical problems usually lead to such discharges, and the officers can reapply to the department and begin the entire recruitment process again, including going through the police academy.
It is unusual, however, for a rookie officer with brutality complaints -- like Fagan -- to lose his job because the clock ran out on his probation. Many department sources have said Fagan Jr. lasted in the department as long as he did only because he was the son of the assistant chief.
A DIFFERENT CASE
The case of Fagan Jr., however, was different from the start.
The son of Alex Fagan Sr. and two other off-duty officers were indicted on assault charges in connection with the beating of two men on Union Street outside a bar on the night of Nov. 20 -- a case that raised questions about whether the department properly investigated the matter or attempted a coverup.
That same day the grand jury indicted Fagan Jr. and the two officers who were with him Nov. 20, the jurors also indicted seven other officers on charges they tried to cover up what had happened during the brawl and its aftermath. Those conspiracy charges were quickly tossed out, however, leaving only the assault case pending, and Mayor Willie Brown immediately named Assistant Chief Fagan acting chief when Chief Sanders remained out on disability following his own brief indictment.
Department officials did not return The Chronicle’s calls for comment Sunday night, so it was not known what the job status was of the two other officers who also were indicted in the Union Street assault case, David Lee, 23, and Matthew Tonsing, 28. Like Fagan Jr., both were suspended when they were indicted by the grand jury.
Fagan Jr.'s repeated use of force on suspects did not become publicly known until after the Union Street incident in which two San Francisco men accused the officers of attacking them without provocation after they refused to turn over the bag of fajitas that one of them was carrying.
This was not the first time Fagan Jr. had gotten into trouble. In one of the excessive force complaints against Fagan Jr., a suspect said the officer had kicked him repeatedly in the head, and in another instance a suspect was hospitalized from his injuries, The Chronicle reported in March.
Collins said that his client would return to court next month when the defense will attempt to get the assault case thrown out.
“Officer Fagan hopes to move on with his life, and to do that he has to put this case behind him,” Collins said. “We believe that he will be exonerated in the case when the facts are fully known.”
Fagan Jr.'s probationary period expired about a week ago, department sources said.
“Fagan Jr. had a job two weeks ago, and now he doesn’t have one, and it’s a sad end to this,” said one police source familiar with department practices governing officers on probation. “It’s too bad Fagan Jr.'s shortcomings were not recognized and attended to earlier by letting him go. It would have saved everyone, including his father, a lot of grief.”
It was not clear what effect Fagan Jr.'s exit from the department would have on the controversy that has swirled there ever since the Union Street brawl captured headlines last fall.
In the wake of that publicity, several organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the San Francisco controller’s office and the civilian-run Office of Citizen Complaints that handles the public’s complaints about officer misconduct, all have issued reports calling for reforms in how the department is operated.
That Fagan Jr. was involved in the incident that sparked this wave of criticism has caused speculation about whether his father still has any chance of being selected as the department’s next police chief. In a recent interview,
Mayor Brown said he would not let the son’s actions affect his evaluation of Acting Chief Fagan, whom he praised as a “great leader.”
CHRONOLOGY OF THE CASE
Nov. 20, 2002
After a banquet celebrating the promotion of his father to assistant police chief, Alex Fagan Jr., Matthew Tonsing and David Lee go to the Bus Stop bar on Union Street. When the three off-duty officers leave, two of them allegedly accost Adam Snyder and his friend Jade Santoro and demand Santoro’s bag of steak fajitas. The third drives up in a pickup truck, and a fight ensues. Police arrived to find Snyder and Santoro bleeding. .
Nov. 22
District Attorney Terence Hallinan meets with police officials and declares afterward that “we are upset by the way this investigation has been pursued so far, as are the police officers we spoke with.” Police Chief Earl Sanders, who does not attend the meeting, later defends his department and compares critics of the probe to those who vilified Jesus Christ. Mayor Willie Brown suggests the incident was one of “mutual combat.” .
Dec. 2
Police officials reveal that Fagan Jr. had been ordered to undergo anger management after yelling and cursing at a suspect in September. The training was put off after the Union Street incident. .
Jan. 28, 2003
Hallinan takes case to criminal grand jury, calling the first of what will eventually be more than 40 witnesses. .
Feb. 12
Memo surfaces from Sgt. Vickie Stansberry, Fagan Jr.'s former supervising sergeant, dating from Sept. 19. In it, she warns superiors that Fagan Jr. was a problem officer prone to clashing with suspects and supervisors. .
Feb. 27
A grand jury returns indictments against Fagan Jr., Tonsing and Lee on assault charges, and seven other department members on charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice: Sanders, Fagan Sr., Capt. Greg Corrales, Deputy Chief Greg Suhr, Deputy Chief David Robinson, Lt. Ed Cota and Sgt. John Syme. .
Mar. 3
Sanders takes medical leave and the other indicted members of his command staff step aside without pay while the case is pending. .
Mar. 4
All 10 police officials and officers plead not guilty. .
Mar. 7
A transcript of the grand jury proceeding reveals that Hallinan and a top prosecutor in his office had warned the members that they did not have the evidence to support conspiracy charges. .
Mar. 11
Hallinan drops charges that Sanders and Fagan Sr. conspired to block the police probe. “This was a tough decision, but we felt it was the right thing to do in light of the evidence that was presented,” Hallinan said. .
Mar. 12
Mayor Brown names Fagan Sr. to be acting police chief. .
April 4
Judge Kay Tsenin dismisses all the conspiracy-to-obstruct-justice counts against the remaining five senior officers. .
May 12
The alleged victims in the Union Street brawl file claims charging that Fagan Sr. and other top brass impeded the probe into the case.
June
Fagan Jr. is let go by the Police Department.