Below is a press release from the San Francisco District Attorneys office:
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San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced today that San Francisco Police Officer Gregory Hui, age 45, has been charged with two felony counts in violation of the California Vehicle Code and one misdemeanor count of embezzlement.
“Police officers are sworn to uphold the law and protect the public,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “When they violate the law and public trust, they must be held accountable, particularly when the allegations
involve on-duty conduct. The law must apply to everyone equally.”
The defendant was arrested on February 2, 2011 with bail set at $18,000. An arraignment date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Hui was working as a patrol officer in the Richmond District in January 2010, when he pulled over a car for having a defective brake light. Hui allegedly cited and admonished the driver for
having an improper registration sticker on his car. Hui allegedly then took the registration sticker from the car, stole the registration sticker, and put it on a car that he co-owned, which had an expired registration.
Hui is charged with two felony counts for violating California Vehicle Code Sections 4463(a)(1) and 4463(a)(2) and one count of violating California Penal Code Section 504, misdemeanor embezzlement.
This case was investigated by the San Francisco Police Department’s Internal Affairs-Criminal Investigation Unit, and is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Marc Katz of the Public Integrity Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
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Now, let’s take a look at the release that the SFPD put out about this alleged crime. A little cryptic, no?
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A suspended San Francisco Police Officer has surrendered himself into custody on an arrest warrant.
On December 17, 2010, Officer Gregory Hui was suspended from duty without pay from the San Francisco Police Department. The Internal Affairs Division, Criminal Investigations, conducted an investigation of misconduct, which has resulted in Officer Hui being booked on two felony charges for fraudulent use of vehicle registration and on a misdemeanor charge of theft under the color of authority.
Officer Hui began working for the SFPD on June 30, 2003, and surrendered himself today on the charges. His bail was set at $18,000.
There is no additional information at this time.
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Sort of a strange crime. My best guess is that Hui’s car would not meet the requirements for registration, like passing a smog test? Don’t know why else you’d risk this just to save a couple of hundred dollars.
Sarah B.
This is an incredibly strange crime. Sarah, I’m with you about the level of risk, relative to any benefit derived. This officer, if found guilty, has lost his career – maybe including his pension – over a petty theft made possible by overstepping his authority for personal gain. *If* the officer is found guilty, I would be interested to know who he took the registration from. I would think that the victim would have to be someone who he thought would not fully understand the implications of his (the officer’s) actions. Perhaps a senior citizen, or someone with poor language skills that seemed at the time to be someone that could be taken advantage of, with no questions asked.
We place high trust in public authority, and that authority caries with it a special responsibility to meet a high standard of conduct. It’s part of the glue that holds a civil society together. It’s a darned shame to see things like this happen. Whatever the outcome, I hope fair justice is done.
When you feel above the law, privileged to break it in many frequent ways because you have a justification or moral righteousness, and get away with it time and time again, it’s easy to lose perspective.
The fact that it seems like something hardly worth committing a crime for, likely contributed to the sense (if the allegations are true) that it was no big deal, and justified for someone who is busy spending time their protecting the citizens etc. etc. Humans (not just cops) have an immensely powerful ability to incrementally justify things.
How unfortunate. One bad decision, possibly made in the blink of an eye, and everything changes.
I never met Officer Hui in person but he did help me once. A shame. Hopefully the SFPD and Officer Hui can learn from this situation. People in positions of authority really shouldn’t take advantage of the public like this…
This 2009 salary data bears notice – outrageously ungrateful to have such low regard for his well-paid career!
DEPARTMENT NAME POLICE DEPARTMENT
EMPLOYEE NAME GREGORY HUI
JOB CLASS DESCRIPTION POLICE OFFICER I
REG PAY $99,437.86
OVERTIME $8,235.76
OTHER PAY $21,574.14
TOTAL PAY $129,247.76
The registration sticker he took from the car he pulled over probably didn’t belong on THAT car either. What an idiot.