ABC7 obtains San Francisco police report on death of Public Defender Jeff Adachi

Dan Noyes Image
Sunday, February 24, 2019
ABC7 obtains SFPD report on Jeff Adachi death
Adachi Investigation

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A police report obtained by the ABC7 I-Team sheds new light on the sudden death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi.

EXCLUSIVE: Key witness in death investigation of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi speaks to I-Team

The incident report obtained by the ABC7 I-Team says "a female who identified herself as 'Caterina'" called 911 from the home on Telegraph Place near Coit Tower at 5:41pm, and police responded. But the officers, now en route, were called off by the Medical Examiner's Office who told them they "did not have reason to believe (it was) a crime scene but the death was still under investigation."

Officers deemed that to be suspicious, so they continued to the ground floor apartment, where they took pictures and spoke with witnesses.

One woman told police she had known Adachi for ten years, and that when he asked to use the apartment she gave him the keys. That same woman told police she received a call from Caterina, who "sounded hysterical and told her something was wrong with Jeff."

Caterina said she had been to dinner with Adachi when he complained of stomach pains, so they took an Uber back to the apartment. There, he became unresponsive and she called for help on his phone.

The police photos show the apartment interior, an unmade bed, empty bottles of alcohol, cannabis gummies, and two syringes that may have been left by paramedics.

A San Francisco Police spokesman tell ABC7's Dan Noyes, "The OCME (Office of the Chief Medical Examiner) is the lead agency in the death investigation. SFPD is assisting. This is a death case with cause to be determined. There are no signs of foul play."

The police report says paramedics arrived ten minutes after that 911 call, started CPR on Jeff Adachi, and took him to California Pacific where doctors pronounced him dead.

One curious picture from the police file, a receipt in Spanish for two t-shirts from a shopping mall in Bogota, Colombia, purchased just this past Wednesday.

Take a look at for a look at more stories by Dan Noyes and the ABC7 News I-Team.