SFPD REVISES CHARGES AGAINST ACCUSED FAJITAGATE PARTICIPANT

By Adam Martin, Bay City News Service

February 1, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - Revised charges will be read tonight against San Francisco police Officer Matthew Tonsing, accused of helping to beat a San Francisco man in November 2002 after the man refused to relinquish a bag of steak fajitas.

Tonsing was cleared of criminal assault charges in 2004, but departmental disciplinary charges against him are pending and have been rewritten to indicate that Tonsing not only participated in the beating, but also instigated it.

The incident, which quickly became known as "Fajitagate,'' also involved new recruit Alex Fagan, Jr. and Officer David Lee, who allegedly collected Fagan and Tonsing in his car. It led to the indictment of then Police Chief Earl Sanders as well as then-Assistant Chief Alex Fagan, Fagan Jr.'s father.

Though the actual charge of conduct unbecoming an officer will remain the same for Tonsing, the revised document includes five extra paragraphs describing the incident.

The original departmental charging document states that Tonsing and the two officers he was with "used force and violence on the person of (the) victim, resulting in the infliction of serious bodily injury on him.''

The revised document comes to the same conclusion, but includes several paragraphs detailing how Tonsing allegedly followed the victim up Laguna Street, taunting him and engaging in "profanity-laced verbal exchanges.''

Tonsing allegedly kept up his haranguing while the victim reached his car and opened the door, apparently to drive away from the situation, and continued his taunts until the victim finally confronted him instead of getting into the car. That confrontation led to the fight, according to charging documents.

Tonight, the Police Commission will hear the revised charges, but it will not take any action on the case.

Neither Tonsing's lawyer, Freya Horne, nor the San Francisco Police Officers Association representative handling his case was available for comment today.

Copyright © 2006 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

####