A rookie cop driving under the influence little more than a day after graduating from the San Francisco police academy slammed into another car early Saturday in the Outer Sunset, officials say.
The high-speed crash happened around 2 a.m. on Sunset Boulevard between Rivera and Santiago streets and left the cop, his passenger, and three people in the other vehicle injured — one of them critically — according to the San Francisco Police Department.
Photos of the crash posted on social media show a crumpled black minivan under a toppled concrete light pole and a second car, a charcoal sedan, with a wrecked hood and front driver’s-side tire completely dislodged.
Jail records indicate that the driver, Ryan Chung-Yan Kwong, 28, was booked at 8:18 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of four felony DUI-with-injury counts and one charge of reckless driving that caused injury.
Kwong was a member of the 284th SFPD academy class, officials confirmed. The recruits — part of the biggest SFPD academy class in six years — were sworn in Thursday by Chief Bill Scott at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center on 19th Avenue.
Photos from social media accounts under Kwong’s name show him posing with sports cars and bottles of alcohol.
Some of the pictures seem to be taken late at night; in an image shared on Facebook, he’s posing with four bottles of Hennessy. Some of the photos that were publicly visible until Saturday afternoon have since been taken down.
According to online profiles, Kwong attended Galileo High School and studied criminal justice at San Francisco State University.
The crash happened less than a week after Mayor Daniel Lurie announced plans to boost SFPD staffing by speeding up hiring and reviewing academy standards to improve graduation rates “without compromising standards.”
The mayor’s “Rebuilding the Ranks” plan comes just a couple of weeks after Assistant Chief David Lazar pitched the idea of shortening the academy’s duration from nine months to six to get more officers on the streets faster.
Scott called Saturday’s crash “incredibly tragic,” saying in a news release hours after that his “heart goes out to the injured victims.”
“We will do everything in our power to ensure justice is served in this case,” he added. “No one is above the law, and our officers know they are expected to obey the law, as well as our strict code of conduct even while off duty.”
My thoughts are with those injured in this incredibly upsetting incident. Our police officers work hard to keep San Franciscans safe, and we expect them to follow the law on and off duty—no exceptions. Thank you to the officers who responded immediately. https://t.co/X9NdyiYAa9
— Daniel Lurie 丹尼爾·羅偉 (@DanielLurie) May 17, 2025
The mayor and the San Francisco Police Officers Association echoed the chief’s condolences.
“Our hearts go out to the victims and family of this horrible tragedy, and we pray for the victims’ full recovery,” the union’s president, Tracy McCray, said in a statement. “There is no excuse for drunk driving, especially for police officers. If the allegations are true, he should be held fully accountable for his actions and the harm he’s caused.”
Though an arrest has been made, the investigation remains open; police ask anyone with information related to the case to call (415) 575-4444 or text a message that begins with “SFPD” to TIP411.