2 SFPD officers investigated following alleged sexual assault

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Police Department is investigating allegations of a sexual assault by an off-duty police officer in August and another police officer for interfering with that investigation.

The officer being investigated in the alleged sexual assault of a woman is identified in a search warrant and affidavit filed in San Francisco Superior Court as Jason Louis Lai. The officer under investigation for allegedly tipping Lai off is Lt. Curtis Liu.

The search warrant states that the victim reported the assault at 7:32 p.m. on Aug. 7 at San Francisco General Hospital's Rape Trauma Center. The victim told police that Lai was the person who sexually assaulted her.

When police spoke with Lai, he said Liu had already alerted him to the allegations.

According to the search warrant, Lai had gone out with a woman roughly five days prior. They had been drinking and Lai could not remember if they had sex.

The victim told police, however, that Lai had raped her, according to the affidavit.

The search warrant states that victim said "no, I don't want to," but that he continued regardless. The victim told police that Lai pinned her down.

San Francisco police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the department was made aware of the possible criminal conduct involving an off-duty police officer in August.

She said once the alleged sexual assault was reported, the officer was immediately placed into a non-public contact assignment and relieved of his department-issued firearm.

Gatpandan said the San Francisco Police Department is working closely with the district attorney to conduct a thorough, complete investigation into the criminal allegations.

The criminal and administrative investigations are open and active, so Gatpandan said she was unable to discuss further details about the incident.