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179:, San Francisco residents Adam Snyder and Jade Santoro were approached as they were leaving the Blue Light bar by three men - later identified as Officer Alex Fagan Jr. (the son of Assistant Chief Alex Fagan), Officer David Lee and Officer Matt Tonsing - who demanded Snyder and Santoro give them their box of takeout food. When they refused, the off-duty police officers physically attacked them. Santoro was seriously injured, suffering a broken nose and a concussion.
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California law, obstruction of justice required that there be an active conspiracy of persons who agreed to subvert justice, not merely an individual or set of individuals acting on their own. Hallinan originally claimed such a conspiracy but phone and office logs established that there could not have been any significant collusion. Hallinan publicly called for the law to be amended to allow individuals to be charged for independent actions.
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brought against them. In March 2007, many of the officers charged by the Office of
Citizen Complaints made deals, with the San Francisco Police Commission, for time off. At the end of the hearing, one police commissioner stated that it appeared that none of the officers charged had done anything wrong.
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on his cellphone and reported that
Santoro was being beaten. He identified the attackers to the responding officers as three men who drove past the scene in a white pickup truck. The pickup was stopped and the three off-duty officers were identified, questioned and released. No arrests were made that
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Later in 2003 and throughout 2004, most of the senior officers, including
Sanders, pursued legal appeals to clear their names of the underlying factual claims regarding the obstruction. Sanders and several others were eventually cleared by courts. Sanders took early retirement, which he claimed was
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The court cases against senior police staff continued through 2003. Hallinan dropped charges against Chief
Sanders on March 11, as he was unable to prove a conspiracy had existed. Charges were dropped against almost all the other defendants on April 4, 2003. A key ruling in the case was that under
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On June 12, 2006, a civil jury found Fagan and police officer Matt
Tonsing liable for damages suffered in the beating and awarded plaintiff Jade Santoro $ 36,500 in damages. The jury found for Tonsing but against Fagan and awarded Snyder $ 9,500. The jury completely exonerated Lee, and Snyder was
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Many officers were charged by the Office of
Citizen Complaints for misconduct in the incident. In March 2007, Inspector Paul Falconer and Lieutenant Henry Para successfully challenged their misconduct charges in a closed hearing of the Police Commission. They were exonerated of all the charges
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A federal court dismissed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of San
Francisco in 2006, a decision upheld on appeal in July 2008, on the basis that the plaintiffs had not shown at trial that any police policy or practice was to blame for the officers' conduct.
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Criminal court cases in the original beating against Fagan and Lee were resolved in 2004 and 2005. Lee was found not guilty on
November 21, 2004 and Fagan was found not guilty on March 28, 2005.
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The scandal subsequently expanded and would take until 2005 to reach a resolution. Accused police officer Alex Fagan, Jr. was the son of
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allegations and eventually, the resignation of the city's Chief of Police and Deputy Chief of Police.
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Alex Fagan Jr., David Lee, Matt
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350:"Civil jury finds against two cops in 2002 Fajitagate case"
385:"Court refuses to revive Fajitagate lawsuit against S.F."
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Attempted assassination of Gerald Ford in San
Francisco
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ordered to pay both Lee's and Tonsing's defense costs.
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On November 20, 2002, as reported the next day in the
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officers and two other local residents over a bag of
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San Francisco Police Department Park Station bombing
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373:Brian D. Seibel, defense counsel for Tonsing,
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551:San Francisco Police Officers Association
323:"Acquittal Reached in 'Fajitagate' Brawl"
277:Van Derbeken, Jaxon (November 21, 2002).
77:Learn how and when to remove this message
279:"3 off-duty S.F. cops probed in beating"
240:from the stress from the investigation.
98:San Francisco, California, United States
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106:Series of legal and political incidents
303:Sebastian, Simone (October 24, 2003).
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541:San Francisco Patrol Special Police
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410:"Q. & A. – AFTER FAJITAGATE"
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629:San Francisco Police Department
546:San Francisco Police Commission
489:San Francisco Police Department
205:San Francisco District Attorney
197:San Francisco Police Department
199:Assistant Chief (later Chief)
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383:Egelko, Bob (July 23, 2008).
348:Egelko, Bob (June 12, 2006).
16:Californian political scandal
210:that the elder Fagan, Chief
438:(Transcript from broadcast)
309:The San Francisco Chronicle
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624:Politics of San Francisco
32:This article includes a
451: – from
388:San Francisco Chronicle
176:San Francisco Chronicle
124:San Francisco Chronicle
61:more precise citations.
634:Scandals in California
619:2000s in San Francisco
520:Shooting of Alex Nieto
216:obstruction of justice
588:Los Siete de la Raza
151:San Francisco Police
449:Fajitagate Timeline
428:. CNN. July 7, 2003
222:, on Jan 22, 2004.
212:Prentice E. Sanders
159:criminal complaints
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147:street fight
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129:Participants
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53:Please help
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583:Frisco Five
59:introducing
613:Categories
560:Facilities
515:Fajitagate
432:January 3,
416:January 3,
354:SFGate.com
283:sfgate.com
264:References
201:Alex Fagan
139:Fajitagate
90:Fajitagate
359:March 3,
231:Criminal
169:Incident
95:Location
67:May 2020
576:Related
288:June 4,
191:Scandal
187:night.
155:fajitas
55:improve
497:Events
226:Trials
251:Civil
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