By Luke Thomas
March 8, 2011
Newly released surveillance video of a drug-related arrest at the Henry Hotel contradicts testimony provided in an SFPD police report signed under penalty of perjury.
It is the fourth such video released in as many days by the public defender’s office suggesting SFPD misconduct and perjury are routine practices.
Previously released videos recorded at the Henry Hotel shows officers made arrests without a warrant or consent to search, and blocked a video surveillance camera to prevent the device from capturing evidence of an arrest.
In the latest released surveillance video recorded on December 2, officers are observed arresting a man who entered a sixth floor unit at the Henry Hotel wearing a black jacket. After using a master key to enter the unit, officers found crack cocaine and marijuana in a jacket, described in the report as “white and tan.”
“Officer Buhagiar told me that he had observed [redacted] during his surveillance and saw him walk inside the Henry Hotel wearing this same jacket,” Officer Razzak wrote.
“My client told officers repeatedly that it was not his jacket, that his jacket was right next to him,” Public Defender Scott Sugarman said. “Police never put his statements in their report, never checked the video and never booked the black jacket into evidence.”
The man served three weeks in jail before prosecutors dropped the case after a preliminary hearing showed the man wearing a black jacket.
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said the latest video confirms a disturbing trend in which police officers routinely falsify police reports to bolster convictions.
“This was an innocent man who was framed,” Adachi said. “He committed no crime and was arrested simply because he had the misfortune of visiting the Henry Hotel.”
Release of the surveillance videos has triggered several investigations. District Attorney George Gascón and the FBI have each launched separate criminal investigations. Acting SFPD Police Chief Jeff Godown, who has temporarily shut down the plain clothes unit involved in drug interdiction, has launched an internal investigation.
Luke Thomas
Luke Thomas is a former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, have published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521 and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
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The Hunger Site
March 10, 2011 at 12:52 am
It’s like ant other WTF moments. It shows it face then moves onto something else that fuks with us.