On Monday morning, SFPD officers patrolling the 7th and Market area came upon the scene of a suspected aggravated assault that left the female victim lying on the ground with life-threatening injuries, and they detained the suspect who was attempting to walk away.

Cole Wright, 31, of Oakland was arrested Monday after patrol officers from the San Francisco Police Department came upon the aftermath of a violent attack at 7th and Market streets, near UN Plaza, around 8 am, as KRON4 reports.

According to a statement from the department, police quickly detained the suspect who was attempting to leave the scene. The officers then found the adult female victim on the ground with life-threatening injuries and rendered medical aid with the help of paramedics who transported her to the hospital.

Police later arrested Wright after developing probable cause, and he was booked into San Francisco County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. Wright also had three previous active out-of-county warrants.

"This kind of violence will never be tolerated in San Francisco,” said Chief Derrick Lew in the department’s statement. “I want to thank our patrol officers for their excellent police work in taking this violent suspect off the street.”

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information should contact the SFPD at 1-415-575-4444 or Text-A-Tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

Image: Guilhem Vellut/Flickr

The lawyer for the man accused of assaulting Mayor Daniel Lurie's bodyguard in a Tenderloin alley last week suggests that the confrontation was entirely the mayor's fault, and he did not need to stop his vehicle to engage with the men on the street.

An initial report about last Thursday's altercation between SF Mayor Daniel Lurie's security detail and two men on the street at Cedar and Larkin streets suggested that the mayor and his bodyguards had exited the SUV after it was blocked from proceeding down the alley. But Lurie later clarified that he had stopped to talk to the two men becuase he was "worried about them" — as part of the ongoing on-the-street outreach he has done since taking office last year, specifically in the Tenderloin.

44-year-old Tony Shervaughn Phillips is now charged with assault on a police officer, and resisting an executive officer and causing great bodily injury, and he was arraigned on those charges Wednesday morning. Phillips additionally faces a charge of contempt of a court order, because he was reportedly under a court's stayaway order pertaining to the very block where the incident occurred. (We also learned last week that Phillips was a suspect in the the August 2019 killing of 42-year-old Curtis Neal on Fern Street, about two blocks away from where last week's incident occurred, but charges were ultimately dropped for lack of evidence.)

The bodyguard, an SFPD officer, reportedly intervened when Phillips appeared to move toward Lurie, and the ensuing scuffle was caught on video from at least two angles. One video showed the officer shoving Phillips to the ground before he got up and then began wrestling with the officer, quickly pulling him to the ground.

According to court documents, Phillips allegedly yelled "Bruce Lee I’ll kick your ass!" at the officer before the shove occurred.

Lurie could be seen walking out of the video frame as the tussling began. In the days since the incident, the mayor and his security detail have been accused of overreach, and Phillips's sister has spoken out about how her brother suffers from mental illness, telling the Chronicle that he also probably didn't know he was engaging with a police officer, because the security guard was dressed in a suit.

As the Chronicle reports, Phillips's defense lawyer, Ivan Rodriguez, spoke to reporters outside the courtroom after Phillips entered a not guilty plea Wednesday.

"I don’t know how that’s right for the mayor to be doing so,” Rodriguez said, regarding Lurie's outreach stop which led to the incident. "I don’t think that’s leadership. I think that’s performative. It’s a situation where he put his security detail [and residents] at risk."

Rodriguez further said Lurie was "wrong for what he did," and said the mayor should admit as much.

Lurie held firm in a Chronicle interview Wednesday, saying, "It is my job to lean in. If I’m not doing it, how can I expect my department heads and my [police department] and sheriff and park rangers to interact with people that are of concern?”

Lurie also tells the paper that "The video is an incomplete view of the situation," and that this was "the first time that there’s been any physical altercation out of hundreds and hundreds of interactions that I’ve had on the street."

He insists he's going to continue doing these check-ins with individuals on the streets, adding, "I did again this morning."

Previously: Two Men Charged In Altercation With Mayor's Bodyguards In Tenderloin

A strange and violent incident unfolded Thursday evening on a Tenderloin alley where SF Mayor Daniel Lurie's black SUV was reportedly blocked in by multiple people, and two of his security guards, both SFPD officers, became involved in a physical fight.

The incident happened just after 5:30 pm Thursday at the intersection of Polk and Cedar streets. As Mission Local reports, it appears that the mayor's SUV was coming down Cedar Street — an alley that runs parallel to Geary Street, between Van Ness and Larkin — when it was blocked by three individuals in the street.

Mayor Lurie himself reportedly got ouf of the vehicle to ask them to move, and they initially seemed to be complying, Mission Local reported via the SFPD, but then one individual began "talking gibberish" and refused to move. One SFPD officer assigned to the mayor's security detail then got out of the vehicle and tried to shuffle the man aside, but this is when the altercation began.

Video obtained by Mission Local shows Mayor Lurie briefly looking on and then walking out of the frame as this scuffle begins, but the suspect quickly overpowers the security officer and slams him to the ground — where he apparently hit his head.

A second officer was apparently engaged with another individual, which is not captured in the video.

The two officers both sustained non-life-threatening injuries — and a photo from the scene shows the first officer, who is bald, with a bloody abbrasion on the back of his head.

Other SFPD officers soon descended on the scene and arrested two suspects, as the Chronicle reports.

"We are grateful that the officers assigned to the mayor’s security detail acted swiftly and courageously to protect him in a dangerous and unpredictable situation,” said Louis Wong, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, in a statement.

The suspect who pulled the officer to the ground has since been identified as 44-year-old Tony Shervaughn Phillips. He is being held on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury, threatening an officer, battering an officer, and possessing drug paraphernalia.

As the Chronicle reports, Phillips previously was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2019 but never faced charges. That arrest was in connection with the August 2019 killing of 42-year-old Curtis Neal on an alley not far from where Thursday's incident occurred. Neal was stabbed on Fern Street, about two blocks north, near Van Ness Avenue.

Phillips was accused of stabbing Neal in the course of a fight, but was not charged for lack of evidence, as the Examiner reported at the time.

Several of these alleys between Van Ness and Polk, including Cedar, Fern, and Willow streets, have been consistent magnets for homeless tents and encampments going back to pre-pandemic years.

A self-described, extra-legal "squatter removal service" was allegedly being run by a sword-wielding, San Francisco-based guy who, along with two associates, now faces assault, burglary, and false imprisonment charges in San Mateo County.

The charges, as KPIX reports, stem from a January 6 incident in which 40-year-old James Jacobs, along with associates Arthur Gutierrez Jr., 40, and Angelmike Va Regalado, 39, allegedly led a group of seven armed intruders who descended on a home in San Bruno where five people had been living at 2:30 in the morning.

The home, on Allen Drive in San Bruno just east of Skyline College, was occupied by a man who had reportedly been living there for 45 years, according to the San Mateo County DA's office, along with his family. The home had been owned by his mother, however after she died, the home had been sold to a new owner. According to the victim, eviction proceedings had not begun, and it seems the new owner had leased the property to an employee of Jacobs at his ASAP Squatter Removal Service.

Per the DA, this lease gave Jacobs's employee residency rights at the property, and ASAP Squatter Removal then acted on behalf of the lessee and the new owner to forcibly kick out the family living there in the middle of the night.

The company's website, claims that they can "quickly and legally" get squatters out of a home "while ensuring you are never liable for our actions." And, it says, "Don't ask about our methods - The less you know, the safer you are."

Those methods, as Jacobs has boasted on YouTube and on at least one radio show, include using a katana or Japanese sword. As Jacobs said in an interview, "If somebody comes at you with a knife, what's great about the katana is that we can do defensive strikes... we can take out your legs, we can actually do strikes that will eliminate the combat, completely eliminate combat, without having to actually get into the attempted murder, manslaughter kind of thing scenario."

As CBS News reported in 2024, squatter removal services have become more popular, as landlords in California face uphill legal battles at times in removing non-paying tenants, and when legal evictions can take years to complete.

We don't exactly what went down on the morning of January 6, but both Jacobs and Gutierrez have had a preliminary hearing, and the San Mateo County DA's Office says they will now face trial on multiple charges, including assault, burglary, false imprisonment, and gun charges. The third associate, Angelmike Va Regalado, remains at large and there is a warrant for his arrest.

Below is a video in which Jacobs is heard discussing his methods, and his sword, in dealing with "combat situations" involving squatters.

Novato police arrested 33-year-old David Slattery Friday morning after he crashed his car into the Islamic Center of North Marin and allegedly attacked someone inside the mosque.

As KTVU reports, an officer was patrolling the area when he heard a crash on the 7000 block of Redwood Boulevard around 11:30 am Friday and ran to investigate, according to a press release from the department.

As the Chronicle reports, the officer witnessed the driver entering the mosque after he crashed a car into the exterior of the building. The driver then allegedly attacked someone in the building while speaking incoherently before the officer intervened.

KTVU reports that the victim of the attack was treated at the hospital for minor injuries. Slattery was arrested and charged on suspicion of felony assault, burglary, and vandalism. His bail is set for $50,000, per KTVU.

Police say they weren’t able to determine whether the incident was a hate crime, as KTVU reports.  

Image: Novato Police Department

Related: SF Mosque Attendees Harassed With Hateful Acts on Christmas Eve

• During a homicide investigation Friday night, Pleasanton police found what appeared to be improvised explosive devices at the scene. Suspicious devices were also found at the home of the suspect, Lucas Chan, 29, of Pleasanton, who was booked into Santa Rita Jail on homicide charges. [KPIX]
• Former Emeryville mayor John Bauters has been eliminated from Australian reality show, The Snake, after five weeks presumably due to his reportedly insufferable personality, prompting speculation that he may have sullied his chances at a political comeback. [The E’ville Eye]

• An Ebony Alert has been issued for 15-year-old Neveah Sheltan who was last seen in Castro Valley around 5:50 p.m. Saturday wearing a black T-shirt and camouflage pants. [KRON4]

• A driver allegedly attempted to hit a pedestrian in a road rage incident near 7th Avenue and Clement Street in SF's Richmond District Saturday afternoon after the pair got into an altercation and the pedestrian tried to damage the car’s side mirror. [Hoodline]

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

A Castro District Walgreens manager who took matters into his own hands and punched a shoplifter, which ended up cutting the shoplifter’s eye, has been found guilty of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.

Remember that wild story from this past March where the manager of the Castro Walgreens reportedly stabbed a shoplifter in the eye? Well, as more information has come to light, the store manager technically did not stab the shoplifter in the eye, though it certainly had the same effect. According to a new statement from the SF District Attorney’s Office that Walgreens manager punched the shoplifter “in the face with a key protruding from his knuckles,” which injured the shoplifter’s eye.

The 5 am March 18 incident is seen in the video below, after the shoplifter tried to steal a bottle of shampoo, the manager wrangled the shampoo back, but the shoplifter was determined to mill about the front of the Walgreens, until key-punched by the Walgreens manager.

The reason we have a new statement from the DA’s office today is because that Walgreens manager was just found guilty of assault, according to KRON4. The 46-year-old Walgreens manager Guang Hong was technically found guilty of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.

“Although I understand the frustration and anger in the community, violence is unacceptable and only makes matters worse,” SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “My office takes all crime seriously and is working in partnership with law enforcement to ensure those who engage in criminal behavior are held accountable and face consequences to protect the safety of the public and to restore the public’s faith in the criminal justice system and the rule of law.”

Some might complain that the Walgreens manager is being prosecuted and the shoplifter is not, but that’s not true. The shoplifter has been charged with petty theft and battery. Though that individual’s name has not been released, and their medical condition since the assault has not been made public.

The SF Public Defender's office that is representing Guang Hong disputes the account that he used keys in the attack.

"Mr. Hong was a longtime and extremely hardworking Walgreens employee who was working the graveyard shift on the night in question, and he fought in self-defense after attempting to recover stolen items from the alleged victim," deputy public defender Megan Votaw said in a statement sent to SFist. "During the interactions that Mr Hong and the alleged victim had that night, the alleged victim threw a bottle at Mr Hong, repeatedly hurled offensive insults--that Mr. Hong interpreted as threats--and came toward him with a fighting posture. Mr. Hong was not holding his keys between his fingers when he punched the alleged victim."

The Walgreens manager Hong is currently out of custody, and is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15.

Related: Police Arrest Employee at Castro Walgreens Who Allegedly Stabbed Shoplifter In the Eye [SFist]

Image: @friscolive415 via Twitter

A woman who was the victim of an unprovoked attack five blocks from Lake Merritt in the wee hours Saturday morning says the attackers did not even take anything from her, though left her concussed and brutalized, and she adds that multiple bystanders simply ignored the incident.

A Los Angeles transplant living in Oakland was celebrating the Dodgers’ Game One win over the Yankees around 1 am early Saturday morning in downtown Oakland, not far from Lake Merritt. But her good vibes did not last, and she’s now considering leaving the Bay Area, as KTVU reports the woman was brutally beaten in an unprovoked attack 17th and Franklin streets. She tells KTVU the group of attackers did not even attempt to steal anything from her, and simply beat her senseless for unknown reasons.

Note: The video below has images of some pretty gruesome injuries.

The woman who gave the name Amanda Raye, concealing her full name for safety reasons, had just left a downtown Oakland bar and grabbed some take-out. "The next thing I know, someone is hitting me upside the head and a bunch of people are kicking me and beating me,” she told KTVU.

"The doctors told me that I had 11 lacerations in the back of my head, and a level 2 concussion and they identified multiple bruises," Raye continued. Pointing to her chest, she noted, "Right across here, I have a foot chest mark from someone stomping on my chest."

Raye could not estimate the exact number of attackers in the group, but guessed they were all between the ages of 17 and 20 years old.

"They made zero effort to steal anything from me, they did nothing to take anything from me, it was just legitimate hate," she added. “They kept reiterating, ‘die fat bitch, stupid fat bitch,’ as they had their cell phones recording over me, as they kicked me in the face and in the ribs.”

Oddly, Raye points out that one of her attackers tried to help retrieve her phone, which the group of them had just smashed. She says that another attacker apparently got second thoughts at one point, and pleaded with the others to stop beating her.

Even when the attack was over, Raye’s indignities continued.

"I ran out into the middle of the street begging for anyone to stop and help me, and cars were speeding past me, honking at me," she told KTVU. "It took a while and a young couple stopped to help me."

While Raye has made a police report, KTVU says that Oakland Police “told her that her case is 15th in the investigation queue, and unfortunately, this kind of violence is very common in the city.”

If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call the Oakland PD Felony Assault Unit at (510) 238-3426. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Related: Four People Shot In Oakland in Four-Hour Span Saturday Night, Three of Them Killed [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

A Brownsville man has now been charged with multiple felonies, including eight counts of attempted murder, in connection with a September 1 spree of violence and mayhem that began with a hit-and-run collision in the Haight.

Anthony Carl Sheldone, 42, of Challenge-Brownsville in Yuba County, is the suspect arrested following the September 1 chaos involving a marauding vehicle, and a stabbing that left one person injured.

"I am grateful that no one lost their life in this horrific series of violent incidents that transpired last weekend,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins in a statement. “Random, unprovoked, violence like this shake[s] members of our community to the core. My office will now do everything in our power to ensure that there is justice in this case."

We thought that the incident began around 8:30 am on the morning of Sunday, September 1, when a person was seriously stabbed near Broderick and Fell streets. But the DA's office now suggests that the spree began earlier, at 7:18 am, with an incident seen on surveillance video of a man walking a dog getting knocked down by a vehicle outside Brioche Bakery on Haight Street.

Sheldone then, allegedly, "drove head on into an oncoming car and physically assaulted another person waiting at a bus stop on Stanyan Street."

The Broderick and Fell stabbing may be this incident, described by investigators, in which Sheldone is "alleged to have asked a woman on the street to take her clothes off and then stab[bed] her husband who confronted him."

There is also this: "Later he is alleged to have run over two people crossing the street at the intersection of Stanyan Street and Fulton Street."

And: "At approximately 8:55 AM he is alleged to have hit and run over a 70-year-old victim who was crossing the street at Van Ness Avenue and Golden Gate Avenue."

Police earlier said that Sheldone, after being confronted by police near Dolores Park, rammed a police cruiser and fled into the Castro. It wasn't until he exited his vehicle and climbed a tree near Carson and Douglass streets that police finally surrounded him, and he was apprehended after he leapt 35 feet to the ground, out of that tree, and injured himself enough that he required hospitalization.

Sheldone was arraigned Monday morning, September 9, and he faces eight counts of attempted murder, seven counts of assault with a with a deadly weapon, one count of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, one count of criminal threats, one count of attempted assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of battery with injury to emergency personnel, two counts of assault upon a peace officer, one count of evading against traffic, and one count of evading an officer with willful disregard.

Prosecutors have moved to have him held in custody until trial, due to the danger he poses to the public.

Although charges have been filed, the DA's office stress that this remains an active investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

Previously: Weekend Stabbing In SF Turns Into Crime Spree That Ends In Castro District

Image of SFPD vehicles during brief standoff on September 1 via Citizen app

We don’t know why a parent and four other teens followed a high school student into a locker room and beat him up Friday, but the school’s principal is vowing that arrests are on the way.

Update (August 28): Contrary to initial reports that five adults attacked the student, revised reports now say it was "A parent and four teenagers, ages 16 to 19" who committed the attack, according to KTVU. That report notes that Dublin PD investigators say that the victim "was confronted by a Dulbin High School parent. The victim retreated into the boys' locker room, followed by four unknown subjects and the Dublin High School parent. The four unknown subjects who were wearing hoodies, reportedly assaulted the victim."

"We know that none of [the four teens] were students at Dublin High," Dublin Unified School District superintendent Chris Funk told KTVU. "We were able to use our surveillance cameras to work with Dublin PD to help identify who they were."

Original story (August 27): It’s been a rather terrible start to the school year at Dublin High School over in the East Bay. On Monday of this week, the high school campus was placed on lockdown over police calls regarding a reported fight and weapon on campus, which turned out to be a false alarm. But we’re now learning through the Bay Area News Group that there had been a fight on campus last Friday, in which five adults reportedly attacked a teen student.

We do not know the condition of the youth who was attacked last week, but the News Group reports that the five adults “followed a teen boy into a campus locker room” where the assault occurred. It is confirmed that police and paramedics were on the scene, and per the News Group, the school’s principal Principal Maureen Byrne says that police have identified some suspects, and that arrests are forthcoming.

“We are outraged that this happened on our campus,” Byrne said in a message to parents. “School must be a place where all feel safe and supportive. We are working with the police to address this to the full extent of the law.”

Dublin Police confirmed an investigation into the incident, but said they are not yet ready to make a public statement. The department also reiterated Monday that no arrests had been made, and they have not determined a motive for the assault.

The fight was apparently broken up by a football coach and several football players who were also inside the locker room. So there seems to be no shortage of witnesses here, and obviously, parents will expect more information to be forthcoming.

Dublin High School is not to be confused with the newer Emerald High School, the city's second high school, which just opened for classes this school year. Dublin, which was the fastest-growing city in California in the 2010s, saw enrollment in its school district rise 92% in the last decade, necessitating the need for a second high school.

Dublin Unified School District currently serves around 12,900 students.

Related: Retired Boxer Gets Misdemeanor Citation In Alleged Attack on Filipino Teen Outside Gino & Carlo Bar In North Beach [SFist]

Image: Dublin High School via Facebook

A person SFPD described as "cognitively impaired" suffered a fractured skull in a recent late-night attack where the suspect also tried to start a fight with a self-driving Waymo, and the police are seeking the brown-haired male suspect seen below.

We’re just now learning of a brutal assault that apparently took place around 1 am the morning of Friday, July 5, on the 2300 block of Buchanan Street near Pacific Heights. According to KPIX, SFPD describes the assault victim as "cognitively impaired” and “visibly disabled,” and the suspected attacker left the victim with a fractured skull and life-threatening injuries.

As the Chronicle adds, the suspect was trying to provoke a self-driving Waymo car before attacking the disabled victim.

SFPD has released video of the prelude to the incident seen above, video that KPIX reports was taken by the victim. The suspect appears to be gearing up for a confrontation with the Waymo, taunting it with remarks like “We’re friends, c’mon Waymo, we’re fucking friends,” and  “You told me you were going to fucking work for me!”

The Waymo vehicle can be heard in the video saying “Unsafe behavior detected” in robot voice.

According to an SFPD statement, “The Waymo vehicle was occupied by a passenger, with whom the victim spoke. This passenger is unidentified at this time.” But the victim of the attack reportedly told the suspect to just let the car go on its way, at which point the suspect allegedly attacked the victim, leaving them with “life-threatening injuries, including a fractured skull,” per SFPD.

The suspect is seen above, and is described as 25-30 years old, with slight facial hair, and a medium complexion. In the video, he’s seen wearing a backwards gray-ish baseball cap, a black jacket, a light blue shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, and reportedly was also carrying a white bag at the time.

SFPD discovered the victim unconscious and had them transported to a hospital. According to the Chronicle, the victim’s current medical status has not been disclosed.

If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call the SFPD tip line at 415-575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.” Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Related: Alleged ‘Waymo Slasher’ Charged With Slashing the Tires on 17 Waymo Self-Driving Cars [SFist]

Image: San Francisco Police via Vimeo

Novato’s Sinaloa Middle School was the scene of a brawl between four teenage girls Friday, which begat a mob of students stampeding the campus and sometimes trampling one another, which then begat a large meeting with irate parents Tuesday night.

This has been a pretty tempestuous end to the school year in the Bay Area on several academic levels. College commencements have been disrupted by Palestine protests, and last week we saw a shooting outside a high school graduation in Oakland. Now it's the middle schoolers seeing violent unrest close out their 2023-24 school year, as KTVU reports on a lunch period brawl at Novato’s Sinaloa Middle School last Friday, which led to a stampede and some trampling, and a Tuesday night meeting with parents who were not at all happy about the situation.

The KTVU segment above shows only a few seconds of the fight itself, which seems to just involve four girls ranging from 12 to 14 years old. "I think that all she was trying to do was defend herself and she was trying to knock away blocks and stuff but the other three were on top of her going after her and not stopping," parent Christina Carroll told KGO.

But there were apparently rumors flying around the school all day that an attack was coming, and students were amped up perhaps hoping for a front-row view. According to KTVU, the principal sent an email to parents after the incident saying that the rumors "resulted in a very large stampede of our students (several hundreds of them) rushing around the campus to seek out the fight to watch it happen. This mob grew in size as they ran through the campus, causing some students to fall and literally be run over by others."

According to KGO, school administrators anticipated the attack might come Thursday, though it did not, and they reportedly had extra security Friday when it happened.

And KGO also thinks they may have a “gotcha” that police were not notified.

"So the school district was aware but the police department wasn't?" KGO reporter J.R. Stone asked Novato Police Department captain Sasha D'Amico.

"Correct," D'Amico told the station. "So if we had been requested as part of our agreement with the school district we definitely would have been involved but that is something we need a request and need information to act on it."

It seems this was all related to bullying, and frankly, it appears that a group of girls who'd been on the wrong end of that bullying got their measure of revenge.

One parent whose daughter was arrested told KGO, "They're being told they're fat, they're ugly, their hair is ugly, balls being thrown at them every single day at school."

KGO reports that “several arrests have been made,” though it’s unclear how many students were arrested. These being middle schoolers, their names are not being released.

Related: The Kids Are Not Alright: Teens Brawling In Large Mobs at Stonestown Mall [SFist]

Image: Sinaloa Spartans PTSA Novato via Facebook

A Fremont man was convicted of falsely imprisoning, assaulting, and robbing another man he met on the Grindr app after a planned sexual encounter in a San Francisco motel that was just a ruse for robbery.

The incident happened on September 15, 2022, and 27-year-old Ronald Anthony Silveria made contact with another man on Grindr, who was in San Francisco. The two agreed to meet at a motel in San Francisco, which SFGate reports was the Civic Center Motor Inn on 9th Street. Each man drove there in separate cars.

"After hanging out in the room for a while, Mr. Silveria pulled out a gun and tied the victim, who was naked, to the bed," prosecutors with the San Francisco District Attorney's Office explain in a release. "He then proceeded to go through the victim’s bags and electronics, hitting the victim and demanding passwords for bank apps."

Silveria then got the victim to agree to ride with him to an ATM and take out $400, with Silveria saying that he would let the man go if he complied. The victim got dressed, and Silveria demanded that he wipe down the motel room. Then the two drove to an ATM and the victim withdrew $400.

After this, it seems that Silveria was likely worried the victim would go to police immediately if he dropped the victim off. He refused to give the victim back his car keys, and he drove the victim across the Bay Bridge, dropping him off in Emeryville at 4:30 am without his cellphone, wallet, or keys.

Silveria also stole the victim's iPad.

As SFGate reports, the victim made his way to a nearby restaurant — I'm guessing the 24-hour Denny's — where a good Samaritan agreed to drive the victim back to his home in San Francisco. The victim then called police, and investigators were able to retrieve DNA evidence from the restraints in the motel room connecting back to Silveria.

A jury ultimately convicted Silveria of assaulting and robbing two men, prosecutors say — though details of the other case were not shared.

Silveria was convicted of first-degree robbery, false imprisonment by violence or menace, identity theft, and misdemeanor assault and false imprisonment.

"Mr. Silveria preyed on a man who was in a trusting, compromised, and vulnerable position,” said Assistant District Attorney Edward Mario in a statement. "I thank the victim for his bravery in testifying and re-living traumatic life events. This conviction ensures accountability for Mr. Silveria’s actions and provide a measure of justice for the victim."

DA Brooke Jenkins adds, "The jury’s verdict holds Mr. Silveria accountable for his despicable crimes. My office will always stand with victims of crime and work to ensure there are consequences for criminal behavior."

Silveria will face sentencing on May 22. He faces up to 12 years in state prison.

A similarly criminal Grindr encounter happened in the East Bay in January. A 20-year-old San Francisco man was arrested for trying to carjack his Grindr date (after they had sex), pulling a semi-automatic weapon on him, and shooting him.

The victim fought back, ended up getting shot in the leg, and then drove himself to a hospital in San Leandro.

Photo via Google Street View

Despite there being video footage of an obvious assault with several punches landed on an 65-year-old, 88-pound woman at a laundromat near Lake Merritt, only one of the two suspects was cited for a misdemeanor, and police released them.

There is plenty of blame thrown around about skyrocketing crime in Oakland, with much of it going toward Mayor Shang Thao or Alameda County DA Pamela Price. Now the Oakland Police Department has surveillance footage explicitly showing a 65-year-old woman being punched three or four times, thrown to the ground at least twice, and grabbed by the neck. As KPIX reports, the Oakland PD merely cited one suspect for a misdemeanor and released them both, with the second suspect never charged with any crime.

The surveillance video of this harrowing attack is disturbing, but can be seen in the KPIX segment above. Two women enter Woody’s Laundromat near Lake Merritt shortly after 7 pm on the night of Saturday, March 16.

The signage clearly says “Last Wash 6:30 pm,” and laundromat attendant Ruth Wilde points out to them that it is too late to start a new load. The women leave with their laundry, but return 40 minutes later claiming that someone has stolen their clothes, even though security video shows that the two women left with their clothes.

And so the two suspects proceed to punch the 65-year-old, 88-pound Wilde, push her to the ground at least twice, and one of them grabs her by the neck. All of this is also captured on the security video.

"They punched me again and hard enough that my nose was bleeding. I saw stars and lights because they hit me so hard," Wilde told KPIX. "I was afraid that they were going to kill me or bash my head into the dryer."

Yet the system seemed to work, up until then, at least. Wilde called 911, at least five police officers arrived, several witnesses gave testimony, and the security video makes it very clear that assault did happen. To a normal person, this sure seems like elder abuse.

Yet only one of the two suspects was cited by police, merely with a misdemeanor, and she was promptly released. The Oakland Police Department would not release the suspect’s name, saying only that she would have to appear in court. It's not clear whether DA Price's office plans to file any further charges.

Wilde has worked at Woody’s laundromat for 27 years, and still suffers mouth pain from the punches, but says she is currently not going back in to work. "I'm afraid they're going to come back and do me in," Wilde told KPIX.

Related: Protesters Rally Against Light Sentencing For Defendant In 2021 Stabbing of Elderly Asian Woman [SFist]

Image: Enriqua P via Yelp

A protester who was assaulted after an APEC demonstration claims the attack was the work of Chinese government “thugs,” and a couple members of Congress find the claim credible enough that they’re calling for an investigation.

That whole APEC Summit hullabaloo wrapped up nearly a month ago. But on Tuesday of this week, a Chinese dissident who recently emigrated to California showed evidence he was beaten up after protesting the Chinese government during APEC. And an Associated Press report says that he and multiple organizations claim the Chinese government coordinated attacks on U.S. protesters. They offered no real evidence of this claim, though the FBI has charged Chinese government operatives for doing this in the past.

We certainly have evidence that the victim, 51-year-old Kaiyu Zhang, was beaten in an attack in South San Francisco. As seen in the video above, he and another man (identified only as “Mr. Chau”) were indeed tackled and beaten by a group of Asian men, most of them wearing black, and a couple with armbands. And clearly Zhang was beaten badly enough that he was hospitalized, reportedly overnight.

At a Tuesday press conference by the group Human Rights in China, Zhang said he was “ambushed and assaulted by Pro-CCP thugs in San Francisco airport.” CCP refers to the Chinese Communist Party.

“I thought we were safe in America and should not succumb to any CCP intimidation,” he continued. “So I responded with ‘Fuck CCP’ (and) ‘Fuck Xi Jin Ping.’ These words were not aimed at any of these young men. But strangely they were agitated by these anti-CCP words and immediately speeded up and rushed to us. I was tackled down and was brutally beaten up. I lost consciousness very soon. After the assault, Mr. Chau and I were sent to the hospital and I stayed in the ER until the following day.”

The incident has caught the attention of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), a bipartisan group of Washington, DC lawmakers. A separate AP report says they allege that the attackers “may have ties to the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.”

“We, the Chairs of the CECC, strongly condemn the reported violence perpetrated against individuals exercising their rights of freedom of expression and assembly in the United States,” they said in a late November statement. “We urge San Francisco County police to review these reports and pursue justice as appropriate.”

Except this did not happen in San Francisco — it seems to  have happened in South San Francisco. But there is clearly an effort to conflate it with San Francisco, to whip up anti-SF sentiment. South San Francisco police say they are investigating the assault and battery, but haven't made any arrests as of yet.

That said, it is a real thing that the Chinese government has been shown to have surrogates who violently engage with anti-Chinese protesters in other countries, a practice the FBI calls “transnational repression.” But New Jersey Republican Rep. Chris Smith is taking it a step further, claiming that the SF Police Department is taking orders from the Chinese government to allow anti-Chinese protesters to be beaten.

"They stood down and they were ordered. I have no doubt about it in my mind," Smith told the AP.

With all due respect… this jackass, who lives 3,000 miles away and may have never even set foot in San Francisco for all we know, is now saying SFPD is secretly in cahoots with the Chinese government.

The anti-CCP protesters also claim a series of other attacks, none of which are documented. For their part, the Chinese embassy in SF makes the wholly undocumented claim that their own demonstrators were “knocked out, others were beaten to headaches and nose bleeding, still others got hurt at sternums and ribs" in a statement reported by the AP.

It’s difficult to know who to trust here, if anyone. The Chinese government certainly has a horrendous record on human rights, and has meddled with anti-CCP protests in the past. Many U.S. opponents of the Chinese government (the people who give us Shen Yun and Falun Gong), have repeatedly been shown to be misinformation hucksters themselves.

This may just be a random attack, or who knows, maybe the highest levels of the Chinese government were secretly involved or something. It’s more likely that protesters and counter-protesters just got too violent with each other, which happened a couple times during APEC. But law enforcement will investigate these matters, and the PR machines on both sides will try to spin the attacks as them being the victims of large-scale conspiracies.

Related: Man Identified as APEC Volunteer Allegedly Punches Protester as Demonstrations Get More Hostile [SFist]

Image: @KaiyuZhang89 via Twitter