Alex Fagan

Alex Emanuel Fagan (2 November 1950 – 8 November 2010) was the former Chief of the San Francisco Police Department. Fagan was raised in the East Bay community of Richmond, California, and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in criminology. He joined the San Francisco Police Department in 1973. He received three silver and five bronze medals of valor. In 1976, he helped save 30 men from a fire at a gay bathhouse. In 1979, he swam 200 yards into San Francisco Bay to save a suicidal woman.^[1] He also oversaw the department's budget and ran the Northern Station.^[1]

In November 2002, while Fagan was a deputy chief, two men reported that they had been attacked by a group of off-duty police officers, including Fagan's son, who was a rookie with the department. Fagan was charged by a grand jury with conspiring to cover up the incident, which became known as "Fajitagate."^[2] Fagan was ultimately cleared and the charges dismissed. He was appointed by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown as acting police chief in March 2003 and chief in August 2003. In January 2004, newly elected Mayor Gavin Newsom removed Fagan as chief and put him in charge of the city's emergency services office.

Fagan died in November 2010 after collapsing while walking his dog on a street in London, England.^[2] Fagan had moved to London to join his partner who had recently been transferred to Britain.

References

External links

• San Francisco Chronicle article on the trial
• "Father and Son at Center of San Francisco Police Storm" Los Angeles Times March 17, 2003 10 November 2010