click to enlarge
Following an investigation into allegations of sexual assualt, San Francisco police announced the arrest of one of their own on Wednesday: Jason Lai, who apparently has been on unpaid leave from
his $111,000-a-year position as a cop since last summer.
According to an SFPD press release, the department's Internal Affairs division — which investigates complaints of officer misconduct — was made aware of an alleged sexual assault involving an off-duty cop in August 2015.
There was not enough information to warrant a sexual assault arrest, per the release, but Lai was put on unpaid suspension during the investigation and was put under formal arrest Wednesday for six misdemeanor offenses.
Another cop who apparently interfered with the investigation, who was not named, has since left the force, police said.
Lai was charged with misdemeanors for unlawfully browsing through official records: or "Misuse of Confidential Department of Motor Vehicles Information" and "Unlawful Possession of Local Criminal Offender History Information."
Lai is not the first San Francisco cop to be arrested recently. In November,
the erstwhile "Hot Cop of the Castro" was arrested after allegedly driving into a pair of men, one of whom was injured severely, while driving drunk after last call in North Beach.
Before that, more famously, four (now all former) police officers were charged in federal court with corruption for a host of wrongs including stealing goods from SRO tenants and conspiring to deal drugs. Some of those same cops were among the group of 14 who exchanged racist and bigoted text messages with each other.
It was not clear if Lai had entered a plea or retained an attorney.
The second individual, the former cop, remains under investigation, according to the SFPD.
"Maintaining the public's trust is of utmost importance to the SFPD," the release said. Indeed.
