By Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A day after cover-up charges against him were dropped, a high-ranking police officer took over as San Francisco’s acting police chief while legal action continued against his policeman son for starting the brawl that triggered a major city scandal.
The rise of Alex Fagan Sr. to acting chief of police was the latest twist in a bizarre scandal that has hit the top brass of the city’s police force and left many residents scratching their heads in confusion.
The scandal started when three young off-duty officers, including Fagan’s namesake son, started a drunken fight over a bag of steak fajitas. That autumn night had started as a celebration of the appointment of Fagan Sr. to assistant chief.
A grand jury investigating the incident charged Chief Earl Sanders and Assistant Chief Alex Fagan Sr. for allegedly conspiring to cover-up a probe of the brawl, along with five other officers and the three patrolmen, including Fagan Jr.
On Tuesday, District Attorney Terence Hallinan abruptly dismissed the charges against Sanders, who is on medical leave, and Fagan. Mayor Willie Brown then cleared the way for Fagan Sr. to take over as acting chief.
Brown, who has in the past used an expletive to describe Hallinan, did not mince words in describing his reaction to district attorney’s dropping of the charges.
“Two police officers with more than 60 years of experience between them have had their reputations permanently tainted by the cloud of indictment that was held over their heads these past 12 days, even though the district attorney apparently has known for some time that he had insufficient evidence to prosecute them,” he said.
Critics have accused Hallinan of pressing a political vendetta against the police department and Sanders, a close ally of Brown and the city’s first black police chief.
Hallinan said on Tuesday it would be best if Sanders and Fagan stayed off the job. “Given the situation in this case where they have been indicted by a grand jury,” he said, “I think it would be better if they did not come back.”
He added the chief and his deputy could still face charges if his investigation turned up any new evidence of a cover-up. Last week, Hallinan likened the police department’s failure to properly investigate the case to the Watergate scandal.
Other commentators have said it would be inappropriate for Fagan to take command of the police force while his son was facing trial. Brown responded pointedly, referring to district attorney Hallinan’s own woes when his son was himself arrested in an earlier drunken fight.
“You can’t end a person’s career just because they may have a son who did something -- if that was the case, District Attorney Terence Hallinan’s career would have been over years ago,” the San Francisco Chronicle quoted Brown as saying.