DA Drops 57 Cases In San Francisco Cops Scandal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco prosecutors on Wednesday dropped dozens more cases handled by a group of police officers accused of conducting illegal searches on suspects, saying investigators were looking into whether more could be implicated in the scandal.

   A total of 57 felony and misdemeanor cases, mostly involving drug suspects, have been dismissed over the past week, District Attorney George Gascon said.

   Seven officers and a sergeant are under federal and local investigation for raiding rooms without warrants at a downtown residential hotel notorious for drug activity. Hotel surveillance video of some of the raids surfaced last week.

   Gascon said charges in the felony cases could be refiled, though his office likely would no longer pursue the dropped misdemeanors.

   While most were drug cases, some were robberies and assaults, he noted. None was a homicide.

   San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi sent a letter to Gascon this week, demanding arrest reports involving the accused officers dating back seven years.

   "These alleged acts of misconduct committed by these officers have great ramifications," Adachi wrote.

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