For Immediate Release: April 21, 2016

Contact: Nathan Ballard (415) 235-6283

SFPOA SUBMITS VIDEOTAPED TESTIMONY

FROM SGT. CHRISTOPHER BREEN TO D.A.
GEORGE GASCONS BLUE RIBBON PANEL
Sworn Deposition From Whistleblower Includes Firsthand
Account Of Inflammatory Cambridge Dinner Where Gascon
Disparaged Minorities
Breen: Gascon Repeatedly Called African-Americans Those
People In A Derogatory Way
SAN FRANCISCO Today, the San Francisco Police Officers Association (SFPOA) will
submit a videotaped deposition from San Francisco Police Sgt. Christopher Breen (ret.) to
District Attorney George Gascons Blue Ribbon Panel.
Gascon formed the panel to promote his view that widespread racial bias exists in the San
Francisco Police Department. Gascon has refused to let any police officers who disagree with
him (other than Chief Greg Suhr) to testify before the panel.
Sgt. Breens testimony about Gascons bad behavior in Cambridge will no doubt make Gascon
feel uncomfortable, said Martin Halloran, President of the SFPOA, but sometimes the truth
hurts.
In his testimony, Breen, who served as a police officer from 1984 until 2015, provides a
firsthand account of a dinner in Cambridge, Massachusetts in April, 2010. Breen describes an
inflammatory scene where Gascon drank alcohol heavily and used racially disparaging
language, repeatedly referring to African-Americans as those people in a derogatory way.
In his deposition, Breen states: The Chief of Police referring to black people in that context was
so inappropriate and so unexpected that it just made my jaw drop.
Breens account is consistent with the testimony of former union president Gary Delagnes. Both
officers recounted how an African-American restaurant patron at a nearby table approached
Gascon and asked him to stop using offensive language.
I was extremely offended by [Gascons actions], said Breen. An officer in the San Francisco
Police Department, especially the Chief of Police, should never refer to any ethnic group in a
derogatory way it is offensive, it is derogatory, and it has no place.

Here is the link to Breens videotaped deposition:

https://youtu.be/ZV0LXFH_eHc
Gascon has refused to comment in any detail on the Cambridge dinner. In March, he initially
issued through a spokesman what Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr., described as a non-denial
denial. (San Francisco Chronicle, March 6, 2016.) After a week of silence, Gascon finally
acknowledged attending the dinner, but issued a denial that lacked any detail.
This week, as the videotaped depositions were made public, Gascons spokespeople accused
Breen and Delagnes of perjury, an accusation that the whistleblowers deny unequivocally.
Halloran, who was also present at the Cambridge dinner, has in a sworn declaration confirmed
the facts described by Breen and Delagnes.
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