NICHOLAS BETTENCOURT v. CITYANDCOUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO

Filed 1/16/07

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FOUR

            The trial court denied a petition for writ of mandate and for injunctive relief filed by appellant Nicholas Bettencourt and four other members of respondent San Francisco Police Department (department) who sought dismissal of disciplinary proceedings before respondent San Francisco Police Commission (commission).  The officers appeal the order denying mandamus and injunctive relief,^[1] contending that the charges against them must be dismissed inter alia because (1) the applicable statute of limitations bars these proceedings despite the then-pending civil litigation in which each of the officers was a named defendant; and (2) the department failed to conduct a timely review of the charges in accordance with its own internal regulations.  (See Gov. Code,^[2] §  3304, subd. (d)(6) (hereafter §  3304(d)).)  In February 2006, we denied the officers' petition for a stay of the disciplinary proceedings until the appeal was resolved.  The disciplinary proceedings were set for hearing on October 10, 2006.  In September 2006, we granted a renewed petition for a stay.  We now affirm the trial court order and lift the stay.

I.  FACTS

A.  Incident^[3]

            On January 21, 2002, four San Francisco police officers--appellants Nicholas Bettencourt, Adam Choy, Walter Cuddy and Marcial Marquez--responded to a report that guns were being removed from a vehicle on Kirkwood Avenue.  They found four African-American juveniles in a car listening to a radio.  The officers ordered the minors--two boys and two girls aged 12 to 15 years old--from the car at gunpoint.  The minors were detained, handcuffed and searched.

            A crowd gathered.  The mothers of the detained girls sought an explanation from police.  Bettencourt--who was Caucasian--was reported to have told one of the mothers that â€