It's good to know people in powerful places. Take, for example, San Francisco police officer Richard Soares, who received a feather-light sentence after being convicting of charges stemming from an assault on his former girlfriend outside a Union Square nightclub.

SF Examiner has more:

Soares reportedly pushed the woman to the ground, causing her to sustain 1-inch gash to the back of her head.

Soares at one point faced 11 charges related to the case: One count of felony assault, which the judge reduced to a misdemeanor, one felony count of dissuading a witness, and nine misdemeanor counts of violating a restraining order, prosecutors said.

Soares wasn't found guilty of assault and dissuading a witness, but a jury "found him guilty of nine counts of violating the restraining order." His sentence? A scant 27 days in work program.

During the trial, the officer was put on unpaid leave during the trial.

[SF Ex]