Jury: Top SF cops tried to thwart brawl probe

But, according to grand jury testimony, the alleged victims complained that they weren't allowed to confront their accusers, and police investigators said higher-ups restricted their access to the off-duty officers, who included the son of the assistant police chief.

After weeks of testimony, the grand jury indicted Police Chief Earl Sanders, Assistant Chief Alex Fagan and five other commanders for conspiring to cover up the Nov. 20 incident. The three rookie officers, including Alex Fagan Jr., face felony assault charges and have been suspended without pay.

District Attorney Terence Hallinan later dropped charges against Sanders and Fagan, saying he believed they were guilty but couldn't prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

"You really have to see the whole transcript to understand the pieces of the puzzle. ... It wasn't a smoking gun," Hallinan said after a judge ordered the 1,300-page transcript unsealed.

Nonetheless, the transcript shows that witnesses said they were thwarted by commanding officers as they tried to pursue the case against the officers.

Jade Santoro, one of the alleged victims, described being beaten with a beer bottle and kicked repeatedly in the head after dropping to the ground. Then, after an ambulance and uniformed police arrived, he spotted the three off-duty officers involved in the fight driving away.

"We said, 'Go pull them over. Those are the guys,"' Santoro said.

But police did not act.

Marcia Ashe, a police investigator, said Deputy Chief David Robinson told her she wouldn't be allowed to record any interviews with the accused officers -- contrary to police procedure. Lt. Joe Dutto, who initially led the probe, also testified that proper investigative procedures weren't followed.

Dutto said he was ordered to submit questions in writing and denied access to some of the officers, their cell phone records and disciplinary histories. Police higher-ups also deceived Dutto about who attacked whom and misled him about the fact that the off-duty officers had been drinking, according to his testimony.

Those alleged obstructions formed the bulk of the accusations against the police commanders.

"I believe it is undue influence, undue pressure," Dutto testified.

Alex Fagan Sr., the highest-ranking officer to testify, said he ordered officers to treat the case like any other.

But he also called his son shortly after the fight and advised him not to volunteer any information. He also arranged for a defense attorney to take his son's case.

"I told him to not say anything to anybody, that he was not to talk to anybody until he talked to" the attorney, the assistant chief testified.

Fagan Sr. said he didn't discuss the incident with his son because it could be a conflict of interest.

"We knew that I couldn't be involved in the case because I am the discipline officer," he testified, adding: "I knew that from the very beginning, and I knew it had to be handled strictly by the book."

The lawyers for the officers facing felony assault charges sought to seal the transcript. But prosecutors, defense lawyers for the commanders and attorneys for several media organizations, including The Associated Press, persuaded the judge to release it.<