San Francisco Police Department

Less than a week after he was sworn in as San Francisco’s new sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi faces a possible year in jail on charges that he physically abused his wife in front of their young son.

Mirkarimi faces misdemeanor charges of domestic violence battery, child endangerment, and dissuading a witness, all related to an incident that occurred over the New Year’s weekend at the family’s home in the Western Addition. If convicted, Mirkarimi could face a year in jail, said District Attorney George Gascon.

Gascon also requested a protective order requiring Mirkarimi to stay away from his wife, Eliana Lopez, and son, preventing him from returning home while the order is in effect.

Mirkarimi surrendered into custody shortly after appearing at his own news conference, in which Lopez was at his side. He said he would not resign, and would contest the charges. His bail was set at $35,000.

“The charges filed today by the District Attorney are extremely serious and troubling," Mayor Ed Lee said Friday evening. "As Mayor, I must now review the facts and options available to me under the City Charter, but I must also ensure that we do not take steps that undermine the integrity of the criminal justice proceedings underway.”

Lopez, in a statement to reporters, said she was not abused.

“I want to say this is unbelievable,” she said. “We are together and we are going to fight this. This is unbelievable and this is completely wrong.”

“No one is above the law,” Gascon said during a Friday afternoon press conference at the Hall of Justice. “This type of behavior is inexcusable.”

If convicted, Mirkarimi would be required to give up his department-issued firearm. If Mirkarimi were to step down permanently, Mayor Lee has the authority to name a replacement. The mayor may also move to suspend any public official from office.

Lee, however, is taking a wait-and-see approach on how to handle the matter. “He has the authority,” said Francis Tsang, a spokesman for the mayor. “But he is not exercising that right until he makes a determination whether to proceed down that road.”

The charges against Mirkarimi arose from a New Year’s Eve incident. A neighbor, Ivory Madison, reported to the police that Lopez came to her house after a heated argument in which Mirkarimi allegedly grabbed Lopez’s arm so hard that he left a bruise, according to a police affidavit. Gascon said that evidence gathered by police, including a videotape of the bruise taken by Madison, and telephone text messages between Lopez and Madison, indicated the injury was severe enough to warrant battery charges.

Gascon said the police are now investigating the possibility of previous domestic violence incidents involving Mirkarimi and Lopez.

“Even if it’s a small incident, you can’t have the sheriff going around beating people,” said Minouche Kandel, a staff attorney with Bay Area Legal Aid. “The sheriff is supposed to be protecting people from harm, not harming them.”

Gascon said Lopez declined to speak with prosecutors. But, he said, it is common for victims of domestic violence to be uncooperative.

“We decided in this state a long time ago that violence is a criminal matter, a state matter, not a private matter,” Gascon said in an interview with Spanish-language reporters.

Kandel and other activists held a City Hall rally Thursday demanding that Mirkarimi step down until his case is resolved. “How are survivors of domestic violence supposed to feel safe accessing services from an agency whose top dog may have committed domestic violence?” she said.

Mirkarimi was elected in November after serving seven years as the liberal supervisor representing San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury and Western Addition neighborhoods. A Police Academy graduate, he had focused on reducing crime in his district, routinely visiting nighttime crime scenes.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any impact on the Sheriff’s Department relationship with the District Attorney’s office,” Gascón said of the charges in response to a reporter’s question after the announcement.

Mirkarimi met Lopez, an actress who has starred in Venezuelan theater, soap operas and movies, at a 2008 environmental conference in Brazil. She later moved to San Francisco, and in 2009 she gave birth to their son.

In online blogs and Facebook postings, Lopez has expressed longing for her native Venezuela.

“She is very kind, very educated, a very even-keeled person,” said Betty Vasquez, a Venezuelan journalist who covers entertainment, and who worked with Lopez putting together publicity materials for the upcoming movie “The Colonel’s Woman,” in which Lopez has a starring role. “She is not known as the type of person who is involved in scandals.”