Castro’s ‘Hot Cop’ convicted of hit and run
A San Francisco police officer who gained online fame as “the Hot Cop of the Castro,” only to fall from grace after slamming his car into two people in North Beach, was found guilty Thursday of two felony counts of hit and run.
After a day of deliberation, a jury found Christopher Kohrs, 40, guilty of hit and run causing injury and hit and run causing serious permanent injury. He was remanded into jail custody by Superior Court Judge Carol Yaggy.
“It does not matter who you are or who you work for, everyone will be held accountable for their actions,” said Max Szabo, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Kohrs’ attorney argued during the trial that the off-duty officer fled the scene of the Nov. 29, 2015, crash because he felt threatened by an aggressive crowd that formed and recognized him as the “Hot Cop.”
The officer, who is on unpaid leave, had been out clubbing with his brother and a friend before the incident. While driving his orange Dodge Charger west on Broadway through a green light, he struck two male pedestrians as they crossed near Montgomery Street just after 2:20 a.m., authorities said.
Kohrs briefly stayed at the scene, where victims Victor Perez and Frank Vilches lay bloodied in the street and his Charger sat with a smashed windshield, but took off running before police arrived.
Eight hours later, Kohrs turned himself in, frustrating prosecutors who said they couldn’t collect evidence to determine if he was under the influence when he was behind the wheel.
Vilches nearly died that morning, suffering permanent disabling injuries while racking up medical bills exceeding $600,000, his attorney wrote in a lawsuit against Kohrs and the city.
Kohrs worked in the department’s Park Station for seven years. While Kohrs was an officer in the Castro, a resident noticed his good looks and posted pictures of him on social media.
Fan pages began cropping up and the images went viral. Kohrs used the attention for charity, occasionally going shirtless for benefits and posing as a calendar model.