Back in the innocent days of the summer of 2014, a then-36-year-old San Francisco police officer with athletic-model good looks got temporarily assigned to the Castro while the streetscape was under major construction and traffic was disrupted. One or two people thirstily posted some photos of him to social media, and it became the stuff of viral legend — Chris Kohrs became immediately known as the Hot Cop of the Castro.
In an exclusive interview that summer, Kohrs talked to SFist about how he wasn't accustomed to being objectified. "I'm not used to a lot of people coming up to me and taking pictures and things like that. I'm happy to do that. But — just the amount of people — it's flattering. But that was something I had to get used to working in that neighborhood," he said.
Unfortunately for Kohrs, his unwanted notoriety ultimately gave way to a public scandal when he was implicated in a November 2015 hit-and-run outside a club in North Beach. Kohrs was ID'd by witnesses at the scene, but was seen on surveillance video running away after the accident before turning himself in to police after a period in which it was not possible to assess his intoxication level from the time of the crash.
Two men were injured in the crash, Franco Vilchez, an Iraq War vet, and Victor Perez, and Kohrs settled a civil case brought by them in April 2017. He then had to stand trial in a criminal case and was convicted of two felony counts of hit and run, for which he served four and a half months in jail in Marin County.
For reasons that are unclear but may have something to do with unfinished business with the SFPD — which he no longer works for — Kohrs agreed to an interview this week with ABC 7's Dan Noyes. Noyes says that it was "one of the most frustrating interviews he's done" because Kohrs spent most of it evading questions.
Kohrs, now 43, works in construction, and when asked whether he ever wanted to be a San Francisco police officer again, he said, "They could, they could offer me season tickets to the 49ers, red zone seats, I would still turn them down and I love going to 49er games. So that's a big deal."
Noyes tried to press Kohrs into explaining why he ran away from the scene of the 2015 collision, and even though he's already served his time for the crime, he refused, saying, "Because my lawyer specifically told me not to talk about it just yet."
And Kohrs mostly wanted to talk about how he believes something nefarious went on in the Police Commission proceedings in which a decision was made to fire him. He claims that the recording of the deliberation was somehow tampered with.
As to what he hopes to get out of this, that is more vague. He's not intending to sue the department and doesn't want his job back, but he told Noyes, "I really just want to influence change, and transparency and government ethics."
We wish Noyes had asked him if he's heard of OnlyFans or has considered starting an account as a side gig. But, alas, this is probably the last we will hear from this hot former cop for a while.
Previously: Exclusive: Hot Cop Of Castro Speaks!
Photo: Facebook