The San Francisco Police Department has fired a rookie cop who was arrested on suspicion of causing a drunken car crash that critically injured at least one person.
“He is no longer employed by the department,” SFPD communications director Evan Sernoffsky told The Standard by phone Tuesday.
Early Saturday, a little more than a day after graduating from the police academy, Ryan Chung-Yan Kwong, 28, allegedly drove into another car in the Outer Sunset, the SFPD said. All new academy graduates are subject to a period of probationary employment that typically lasts six months.
The high-speed crash occurred around 2 a.m. on Sunset Boulevard between Rivera and Santiago streets and left Kwong, his passenger, and three people in the other vehicle injured, according to the SFPD.
Kwong was booked into jail at 8:18 a.m. Saturday. He has since been charged with four counts of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, four counts of driving under the influence of alcohol with a 0.08% blood alcohol concentration causing injury, and three counts of reckless driving causing injury, the San Francisco district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
The DA’s office said Kwong’s blood alcohol concentration was greater than 0.15%.
Wearing an orange jumpsuit and Crocs, Kwong pleaded not guilty Wednesday.
A judge ordered that Kwong cannot consume or possess alcohol, must attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings twice per week, and must install a breathalyzer on his car’s ignition, among other conditions for his release from jail.
Kwong was a member of the 284th SFPD academy class, officials confirmed. The recruits — part of the biggest SFPD academy class in six years — were sworn in Thursday by outgoing Chief Bill Scott at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on 19th Avenue.
‘This is a red flag’
Current and former San Francisco police officers are raising questions about the thoroughness of background checks into Kwong.
Instagram and social media posts that showed Kwong partying should have prevented his hiring, or at least raised red flags about his suitability as an officer, three current law enforcement officers and four former cops told The Standard.
In one image, he is pictured holding a case of Hennessy on his shoulder; in another, he stands with a group of men, tequila bottle in hand, flipping the bird at the camera.
“To me, this is a red flag. This guy lacks the maturity to do the job. This speaks to his character,” said former police union president Tony Montoya, referencing the tequila photo. “He should have been disqualified just from this photo alone. How was this not a concern? I’m gonna be very candid. The SFPD has lowered their standards, and it shows.”
One former officer said Kwong was a “fucking moron” for posting the images to a social media account.
Other former officers said social media posts would not necessarily bar someone from being hired, but Kwong should have been questioned about them.
“The social media stuff would have definitely been a problem had it been revealed pre-hire,” said one former SFPD officer who does background investigations and spoke on condition of anonymity. “Not sure if that alone would have barred him from hire, but I’m confident other more qualified candidates may have been sought after.”
Another former officer said that while the social media posts should have prompted the investigator to ask questions about Kwong’s conduct, they may not have barred him from being hired in an age when people post nearly everything about their lives.
The crash happened less than a week after Mayor Daniel Lurie announced plans to boost SFPD staffing by speeding up hiring and reviewing academy standards to improve graduation rates “without compromising standards.” The mayor’s plan to rebuild the ranks comes just a couple of weeks after Assistant Chief David Lazar pitched the idea of shortening the academy’s duration from nine months to six to get more officers on the streets faster.
The SFPD did not respond to a request for comment about who conducted the background check into Kwong or whether it is being reviewed to see if critical information was missed.