San Francisco Police Commission
approves police brutality settlement

By Brent Begin, Bay City News Service

February 8, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The San Francisco Police Commission approved a settlement Wednesday night in a brutality incident at a local nightclub involving three San Francisco police officers and a visiting Sacramento man.

The amount of money the city will have to pay has not been made public, but the settlement will be revealed when it goes to the Board of Supervisors for approval.

The lawsuit stems from a March 7, 2004 incident in which Andrew Marconi and some friends were outside The Endup, a popular late night dance club at the intersection of Sixth and Harrison streets.

According to charging documents, Marconi and his friend, Eric Gora, were urinating in an alleyway behind the club when a San Francisco police patrol car pulled up. Three officers got out of the car and approached the two men.

Marconi, who is gay, claims in the lawsuit that the officers began yelling homosexual slurs at him. One officer then allegedly told the two men, "You peeing on my streets? Do you think we want your AIDS-infected pee on our streets?"

In the lawsuit, Marconi claims one of the policemen grabbed his head, slammed it into a wall and then used his hair to mop up the urine. The officers took Marconi's shirt off and continued to mop up the urine, according to charging documents.

Marconi's friend, an off-duty Stockton police officer, witnessed the incident and pulled out his badge, prompting the officers to flee.

Copyright © 2007 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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