San Francisco is transfixed by its latest crisis. A few weeks ago two guys walked out of an upscale bar in San Francisco soon after closing time. (They were a bartender leaving work and his friend.) Three assailants jumped them and proceeded to beat crap out of them. One of the victims managed to get a cell-phone call off to 911 and police responded. Well, it seems that the three assailants were drunk off-duty cops. It also seems that one of them was the (reportedly) insubordinate loose-cannon son of the Assistant Chief of Police. Predictably, the department tried to hush it up. But it just wouldn't stay quiet. The newpapers got wind of it. The DA decided to stroke it for political gain. The police department started a routine investigation, but the brass denied the investigators access to documents and (reportedly) sent out word not to talk to investigators. One of the investigators was suddenly tranferred. The DA, observing all this and hoping to exploit it while avoiding any appearance of exploiting it, handed the thing off to the Grand Jury. The Grand Jury spent weeks taking testimony from everyone. Well, on Friday the Grand Jury dropped an A-bomb on the SFPD: Felony indictments for obstruction of justice and for conspiracy to obstruct against: The Chief of Police. The Assistant Chief of Police (father of an assailant). Two Deputy Chiefs. A Captain, a Sargeant and the three assailants themselves (indicted for assault). Basically, the guts of the police command structure. Now everyone from the Mayor to Senator Dianne Feinstein (a former Mayor) are backing up the brass and talking "runaway jury". There's talk of good men being crucified. The whole thing is a "travesty", an "abomination". There are appeals out to the state Attorney General to overturn the indictments. (The AG is backing away from it at full speed.) You have never seen bigshots dancing so fast in your life. Frankly, I don't know if what happened justifies a felony conviction. But San Francisco (like many big cities, I think) has always had cops (and others) who were "connected". People who could basically break the law with impunity, people who could never be touched. Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, others are born with a "get out of jail free" card. Actually, I can't prove that, but that's not the point. The point is that it is definitely the impression out here on the street. And I think that the Grand Jury was sending a loud and clear message: Nobody is above the law, no matter how connected they are. I applaud the Grand Jury. One inspector (who asked for anonymity) summed it up best in the 'Chronicle'. Speaking of the brass, he said: Their hubris blinds them to the realities, political and otherwise. We are laid low. It's hard to imagine our ship going in a straight direction. I mean, who has the authority now, moral and otherwise, to lead... when the entire command staff are going to have San Francisco arrest numbers. It's bizarre... http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
It was the front page news in the Sacramento Bee - pretty amazing - not that it happneded, but that it is being reported and a conviction. Amazing!
If I was the state attorney general, I would be recording my phone calls with witnesses present. I imagine there will be a little bit of pressure. It would be interesting to see who might try to obstruct justice. As the defendants have been telling people their whole careers - tell it to the judge.
