SAN FRANCISCO—Former San Francisco Police Department Lieutenant Curtis Liu was arrested on Wednesday, April 27 on charges involving the sexual assault case of off-duty officer Jason Lai, according to a press release from the SFPD. Liu was charged with one count of filing a false police report, a felony, and two counts of obstructing an investigation, a misdemeanor.
The Internal Affairs Division was notified in August 2015 of a sexual assault allegation of an off-duty officer. The investigators launched an immediate investigation where it was revealed that there may have been a second officer who had interfered with the investigation.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office was made aware of the allegations and both officers were placed on suspension during the investigation. Liu was accused of discussing the nature of the sexual assault investigation with Lai, and not notifying his superiors of Lai’s possible involvement.
The investigation of the sexual assault case also opened another case involving racist and homophobic text messages being sent by four SFPD officers. Both Liu and Lai are included in the text message scandal. Lai has been charged with six misdemeanor counts for unlawful access and/or use of criminal and motor vehicle data bases in the text message scandal case.
“The San Francisco Police Department treats all allegations of officer misconduct seriously and will thoroughly investigate all complaints. Any officer not forthright in an investigation will themselves be the focus of an investigation,” states the release.
Both Lai and Liu have separated from the San Francisco Police Department.
