One of San Francisco’s highest-ranking law enforcement officials was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of a hit-and-run.
Richard Jue, the sheriff’s chief of staff, was booked early Sunday in lieu of a $7,500 bond. The San Francisco district attorney’s office on Monday charged the 65-year-old with hit and run with property damage and filing a false police report, both misdemeanors.
Jue was off-duty March 4 when he crashed a Sheriff’s Department vehicle into a parked Tesla on Diamond Heights Boulevard, near Duncan Street, “causing serious damages to both vehicles,” according to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ office.
Jue left the scene of the crash and did not report it for two weeks, according to authorities. The Tesla was deemed a total loss, prosecutors said.
“When he reported it, he claimed that he had been the victim of an unknown hit-and-run in a parking lot,” the prosecutor’s office said. “The next day, he allegedly made another report, apologizing and stating he in fact had caused the accident and left the scene without leaving a note.”
Jue has been put on leave pending the criminal case and an administrative probe. He will be arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court on Thursday.
“The sheriff’s office holds all members — regardless of rank or role — to the highest ethical and professional standards,” Sheriff Paul Miyamoto said in a statement after Jue was booked. “We believe in the integrity of the judicial process and are committed to ensuring that anyone found guilty of criminal conduct, whether a member of our staff or the public, is held accountable.”
Jue spent three decades at the San Francisco Police Department before becoming Miyamoto’s chief of staff in 2020.
A phone call to Jue went unanswered Saturday night.
Jue’s arrest comes little more than a month after a rookie SFPD cop landed in jail for an alleged DUI crash that seriously injured another driver. Ryan Chung-Yan Kwong, 28, was fired days later, ending his law enforcement career less than a week after his graduation from the police academy.