For Immediate Release: March 7, 2016

Contact: Nathan Ballard (415) 464-6779

THIRD EYEWITNESS STEPS FORWARD

TO REVEAL THAT S.F.D.A. GEORGE
GASCON, WHILE S.F. POLICE CHIEF,
MADE DISPARAGING STATEMENTS
ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN L.A.P.D.
OFFICERS
Police Officer, Under Oath, Testifies That Gascon Made
Numerous Offensive References To African-Americans
Breen: African-American Bystander Asked
Obnoxious Gascon To Restrain Himself
SAN FRANCISCO Today a third eyewitness, Chris Breen, came forward to say that
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, while he was police chief, made
multiple statements in April of 2010 that disparaged African-American Los Angeles
police officers.
Breen, a retired San Francisco police officer, today filed a sworn declaration under
penalty of perjury that said Gascon made offensive statements at a dinner in Cambridge,
Mass. [Breen declaration attached.]
I recall Gascon making numerous offensive references to African-Americans after he
had become intoxicated from consuming a great deal of red wine, said Breen in his
declaration. Specifically in regard to disparaging statements he made about AfricanAmerican police officers he worked with during his time in the Los Angeles Police
Department, I recall him repeatedly referring to them as those people.
Breen also testified that an African-American patron at the restaurant came up to Chief
Gascon and asked him to restrain himself.
Chief Gascon was so loud and obnoxious, said Breen in his declaration, that an
African-American gentleman who was seated nearby approached our table and asked him
to quiet down because his behavior was offending his family.

Breen filed the sworn declaration today with Gascons Blue Ribbon Panel, a
handpicked panel convened by Gascon to investigate racist text messages written by a
handful of police officers. The San Francisco Police Officers Association, which
released Breens testimony today, has strongly condemned the text messages.
Breens sworn testimony corroborates the March 2, 2016 declarations to the panel by two
other witnesses.
During that dinner [in Cambridge], Chief Gascon, who was drinking heavily, began
reminiscing on his time with the Los Angeles Police Department, retired police officer
Gary Delagnes said in a sworn declaration that was released on March 2, 2016. He made
multiple statements that disparaged minorities. He became so loud and animated that an
African American patron approached Chief Gascon and asked him to restrain himself
because his behavior was offending his family.
Martin Halloran, President of the SFPOA, also confirmed Delagnes account of the
Cambridge dinner in a sworn declaration to the panel on March 2.
Both Delagnes and Halloran have offered to testify in more detail about the Cambridge
dinner at Gascons panel, but Gascon has not yet taken them up on the offer.
The revelations about the Cambridge dinner have been hanging over Gascons head for
five days now. Gascon has refused to comment publicly, instead issuing through a
spokesman what Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., described as a non-denial denial. (San
Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2016.)
Mayor Brown also said that Gascon should have asked a prosecutor from another county
convene the Blue Ribbon Panel. (San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2016.)
Brown is not the only public figure to question Gascons panel. Recently, Superior Court
Judge Quentin Kopp (ret.) demanded that Gascon recuse himself from his own Blue
Ribbon Panel.
In a February 17, 2016 letter to Gascon, the judge accused Gascon of a conflict of
interest because he was chief of police when the racist text messages were exchanged.
Kopp said that by handpicking the Blue Ribbon Panel, Gascon has created the
perception that you are investigating yourself.
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