California Attorney General reviewing assault on San Francisco police officers

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

June 15, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The state attorney general's office will decide whether to prosecute a San Francisco district attorney's office employee for at least two felony counts of battery on a police officer.

Ranon Ross, 39, was arrested June 5 after he got into a physical altercation with two San Francisco police officers, according to Officer Maria Oropeza.

The incident began around 4:30 p.m. as the officers came upon a car parked on the sidewalk in the 1700 block of Eddy Street.

The officers got out of their car and began writing a ticket, Oropeza said.

The owner of the car, later identified as Ross, came from inside a nearby residence as the officers were citing his vehicle. He then got into the car and began backing out into the street while officers told him to stop the vehicle.

One officer rushed to the driver's side window and ordered Ross to stop the car. Oropeza said the officer was not sure if Ross had heard the previous command and was getting closer to the man to get his point across.

According to police, Ross then got out of his vehicle and confronted the officers, and it then turned physical.

"One of the officers was struck in the head," Oropeza said.

"Another was kicked in the groin area, and a radio that was on one of the officers was broken during the altercation."

Officers called for backup as per department procedure and Ross was placed under arrest. He was booked on suspicion of resisting arrest, parking on the sidewalk, failure to obey officers and two felony counts of battery on a police officer, Oropeza said.

Normally, the district attorney's office would prosecute the case, but Ross has worked in the office for more than 14 years as a narcotics division investigator and there is a potential for a conflict of interest.

Instead, the case is being handled by the California Attorney General's Office, but no charges have been filed in the nine days since the incident, according to Department of Justice spokeswoman Robin Schwanke. The California Attorney General's Office has taken on the case, but it is still under review and a court date has not been set.

The San Francisco district attorney's office did not immediately respond to calls for comment regarding the incident.

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