Ex-SF police lieutenant charged with obstructing rape probe

Officer Jason Lai was charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of criminal history information and four misdemeanor counts of misuse of confidential Department of Motor Vehicles information, police said. less Officer Jason Lai was charged with two misdemeanor counts of unlawful possession of criminal history information and four misdemeanor counts of misuse of confidential Department of Motor Vehicles information, ... more Photo: San Francisco Police Department Photo: San Francisco Police Department Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Ex-SF police lieutenant charged with obstructing rape probe 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

A former San Francisco police lieutenant implicated in the most recent set of racist and homophobic text messages to emerge from the city force was charged with obstructing the rape investigation of another officer, the district attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Curtis Liu was charged with one felony count of making a false statement in a police report and two misdemeanor counts of delaying or obstructing a peace officer in the latest in a series of problems and scandals to plague the Police Department.

He is accused of making misleading statements and withholding information from colleagues investigating rape allegations against former Officer Jason Lai, who like Liu worked out of Taraval Station in the Sunset District. Lai has not been charged with sexual assault.

An attorney for the lieutenant did not immediately return a call seeking comment but has said in the past that the accusations stem from an honest misunderstanding.

‘Egregious’ allegations

District Attorney George Gascón described the allegations against Liu as “egregious” in that they sent a message that police officers get special treatment when they are criminally investigated. He said he hoped the charges his office filed against Liu would send a different message.

“For a law enforcement officer to break the law, especially when they’re on duty, the consequences are much more significant,” Gascón said. “These are people who are sworn to protect us. These are people that we as a society pay to protect us. If they themselves become the violators of the law, it degrades the trust between the public and the police, and it makes a mockery of the system.”

The case began in August when a woman seeking treatment at San Francisco General Hospital alleged that Lai had sex with her after both of them consumed a lot of alcohol, even though she kept saying “no.” According to court records, Liu contacted Lai to tell him he was named as a suspect in a rape.

Liu’s attorney, Tony Brass, has said the lieutenant initially thought the person named by the woman was a different Jason Lai — and called Officer Lai as a joke.

However, prosecutors said that when Liu learned that Lai was indeed the suspect named by the woman, he “engaged in a series of actions designed to keep the investigation from focusing on the officer.” Liu not only lied about contacting Lai, prosecutors said, but also allowed a police report to be filed with the suspect listed as “unknown,” even though he knew Lai had been identified.

In a search warrant affidavit, police Sgt. Joseph Minner said Lai eventually told investigators that he had received a copy of the incident report from Liu, and that Liu had asked him a series of questions — including whether he knew the victim, where he met her and if they had sex.

“It is my belief that Liu intentionally interfered with a felony sexual assault investigation both by lying to the officers investigating the incident and by contacting the suspect directly to inform him of the investigation and the progress of the investigation,” Minner wrote.

It was during this investigation that police uncovered a set of racist and homophobic text messages allegedly exchanged among Lai, Liu, former Officer Keith Ybarreta and a fourth unidentified officer.

200 court cases

A batch of messages recovered from Lai’s phone was released Tuesday by city Public Defender Jeff Adachi, whose office is reviewing more than 200 court cases involving the officers to see if some of them should be dismissed because of bias.

The messages included disparaging remarks and derogatory slurs about black, Hispanic, gay, transgender, Indian, Muslim and Asian people. In April 2015, Lai said in reference to black people, “They’re like a pack if (sic) wild animals on the loose,” and four months earlier told a colleague, “That’s some n— s—,” using a racial slur for black people.

Lai’s attorney, Don Nobles, said this week that the text messages did not reflect’s Lai’s character or actions as a police officer.

Police Chief Greg Suhr said he suspended all of the officers in October. Liu retired soon after, and Ybaretta and Lai resigned. The fourth officer is awaiting a disciplinary hearing in front of the Police Commission and faces possible termination. Efforts to reach Ybaretta have been unsuccessful.

Though investigators did not find evidence to press rape allegations against Lai, the officer was charged in March with misusing police databases. He is expected to return to court in May.

An arraignment date has not been set for Liu, according to the district attorney’s office. Police officials said in a statement that internal affairs investigators booked Liu into County Jail on Wednesday. Sheriff’s department records show that he remains in custody on $21,000 bail.

“The San Francisco Police Department treats all allegations of officer misconduct seriously and will thoroughly investigate all complaints,” the police statement reads. “Any officer not forthright in an investigation will themselves be the focus of an investigation.”

The criminal charges against Lai and Liu, as well as the emergence of the text messages, are the latest in a series of problems and scandals to plague the police force.

The department came under fire last year over the revelation of a previous batch of bigoted texts, allegedly exchanged in 2012 among 14 officers. Those texts contributed to Gascón’s creation of a panel to investigate systemic bias in the department.

The earlier messages were discovered by federal authorities looking into allegations that plainclothes San Francisco officers had divided up money found during searches of drug dealers. Those messages — containing racist and antigay remarks — forced prosecutors to re-evaluate thousands of cases handled by those officers. Thirteen have been dismissed.

SFPD waited too long

Some officers in the earlier case resigned, and Suhr moved to fire most of those who remained. But the case unraveled in December when a judge ruled that the Police Department had waited too long to take action, allowing the officers to avoid discipline. The city is appealing the ruling.

Following the fatal Dec. 2 police killing of Mario Woods, a stabbing suspect whose shooting was caught on video, many city and community leaders have called for broad police reforms. Several activists are currently on a hunger strike outside Mission Station, demanding that Suhr resign or be fired by Mayor Ed Lee.

At the behest of Suhr and Lee, the U.S. Department of Justice’s community policing unit is conducting a collaborative review of the department.

Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo