Prosecutors in San Francisco dropped charges against dozens of defendants Wednesday as a result of a widening investigation into alleged police misconduct that has taken eight plainclothes officers off the streets and placed potentially hundreds of criminal cases in question.
Dist. Atty. George Gascon said that his office, acting “out of an abundance of caution,” dropped charges against 42 suspects Wednesday. In total, 57 misdemeanor and felony cases – largely narcotics related – have been dropped since allegations against police arose last week.
The district attorney’s office “took a very pro-active step not only to begin to investigate this matter,” Gascon said during a news conference Wednesday, “but also to notify the court in cases that we believe that at the time we do not have sufficient evidence to prosecute.”
The allegations against officers in the city’s Southern Station arose last week, after Public Defender Jeff Adachi released two videotapes that he said in a statement reveal that “narcotics officers falsified police reports in order to justify searching residences without warrants or consent.”
RichardWanke.Com 