On November 20, 2002, as reported the next day in the San Francisco Chronicle,[1] San Francisco residents Adam Snyder and Jade Santoro were approached as they were leaving the Blue Light bar by three men—later identified as Officer Alex Fagan Jr. (the son of Assistant Chief Alex Fagan), Officer David Lee and Officer Matt Tonsing—who demanded Snyder and Santoro give them their box of takeout food.
He identified the attackers to the responding officers as three men who drove past the scene in a white pickup truck.
Sanders took a leave of absence due to the charges and Alex Fagan, Sr., the next most senior officer, automatically became the acting chief.
Acting Chief Alex Fagan Sr., in turn, resigned in early 2004 and was replaced by Heather Fong, on Jan 22, 2004.
Later in 2003 and throughout 2004, most of the senior officers, including Sanders, pursued legal appeals to clear their names of the underlying factual claims regarding the obstruction.
In March 2007, Inspector Paul Falconer and Lieutenant Henry Para successfully challenged their misconduct charges in a closed hearing of the Police Commission.
[4][5] A federal court dismissed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of San Francisco in 2006, a decision upheld on appeal in July 2008, on the basis that the plaintiffs had not shown at trial that any police policy or practice was to blame for the officers' conduct.