Neighbors say this man harasses and threatens people around the west end of Precita Park. (Photo from Precita Valley Neighbors)
Precita Park merchants and nearby residents have been harassed by a man who has repeatedly threatened them, but thus far, local officials have been unable to address their concerns.
For several weeks, Precita Valley Neighbors (PVN), the community group that represents the Precita Park area, has been documenting the man’s behavior, which includes making threats, lewd behavior, and defecation on the floors of local shops.
According to PVN, the man, who appears to be in his late 40s, first arrived in Precita Park a few months ago. He sometimes threatens the woman who closes the Precita Clean Laundromat on Folsom near Bessie, and he has stalked her outside her apartment in The Mission.
Local merchants, including Charlie’s Cafe, have given the man free food and beverages, but his aggressive behavior has not subsided. Female employees at the cafe have been harassed.
PVN has called San Francisco’s Homeless Outreach Team for support several times, but PVN says the man refuses counseling, treatment, and services. Ingleside SFPD has also been notified, but after officers have spoken with the man, PVN reports that he typically moves to the bus stop across the street for a while, then returns.
Twice in the last week, PVN has requested police intervention to protect merchants from the man’s lewd behavior, public defecation, and physical harassment.
PVN’s most recent request, sent over the weekend, reads as follows (with names redacted to protect the victims):
Please please have a police car on hand at 10:00pm when [Victim 1] the laundromat worker, closes the Precita Laundromat at 3214 Folsom Street, cross street Precita/Bessie.
The homeless individual resting on the sidewalk across the street as seen on this attached picture nightly enters the Laundromat at closing time, defecates and urinates on the floor, physically threatens, verbally abuses, and has been witnessed by [Victim 2] of Charlie’s Cafe to masturbate in front of [Victim 1] when she is opening or closing the laundromat.
[Victim 1] is too afraid to call the police. Her job is to close the Laundromat and then she walks home one block away — often alone. The individual often threatens her as she walks home and follow her there.
The individual is drinking more and acting more aggressively toward her and the Charlie’s Cafe employees. The individual has refused help from the Outreach Van for the past two months of frequent visits.
Precita Vally Neighbors is helping [Victim 1] fill out the Civil Temporary Restraining Order forms. [Victim 2] , of Charlie’s Cafe, is also filling out the same forms, and is assisting his employees to file as well. The forms will be filed early next week, and understand it takes a few days for processing.
We are working with [Victim 1] to call 911 tonight when she sees this individual near her within 150 feet, since he is a known public threat. For the next few days, we will ask for a nightly passing call request at 10:00pm until the orders are executed. We believe this individual demonstrates increasingly aggressive behavior and we want to prevent physical violence.
Bernalwood 
Could we arrange a community safety escort home for the laundromat employee? As a woman, I would hesitate to do this alone but would absolutely join a group willing to do this.
Perhaps an escort for this man, instead? To somewhere outside the city or state?
Free food, free drinks and any handouts for this man are only going to make this worse. I hope people understand that this is not “helping” it is “enabling” and I hope they stop. And the city needs to allow its police to do something. The homeless situation inn SF is gone way overboard and is not threatening the safety and the health of our neighborhood too.
Agreed.
Well I guess they were just trying kindness (and warding off hunger) as a possible remedy, but this individual sounds like he is not emotionally/mentally stable.
definitely sensible to try kindness first, always, but sometimes you got to go further. i say that as a transplanted native of Brooklyn NY.
In my hometown, no teenage boy, raised in our city, whos mother lives on that street would ever let somebody shit on their doorstep or even close. its about pride. too many in SF dont really care about theirr city, just their small lives, and thus people take advantage. being passive about someone aggressively terrorizing your neighbors is really just not caring.
I dont like having to take it there, ever. But theres a time when someone needs to be afraid of more than just your calling the police.
Agreed.
What is the outcome of the restraining order forms? Will this allow the police to do something more than to speak to him?
If the civil court grants the restraining order, he can be arrested whenever he comes within a certain distance of her, but that whole process will take at least several weeks probably. The papers have to be filled out, then he has to be served, then the hearing is scheduled.
This man followed me in the park and into the market there while spewing obscenities and what a cu** I was and how “I deserved it “. Some people are crazy and talk shit and some people make the hair on the back of your neck stand up because they sound like they mean it and will do you harm. I don’t feel safe walking past this guy in broad daylight. He’s menacing. I hope we can all be taken seriously with this complaint.
Is this the same “Pooping Man” on Shotwell? https://bernalwood.com/2017/09/25/shotwell-neighbors-exasperated-by-public-pooping-guy/
Nope.
I’ve seen him masturbating in public in broad daylight. I always walk as far away from him as possible. Can’t imagine what that laundromat employee is going through.
It’s hard to believe there is no useful picture available at this point. I’d love to know which guy in rags to watch out for.
Where is SFPD in all this? Are folks hesitant to call 911? If so, why? Do officers show up? Arrests? What kind of threat does he pose (priors, physical stature etc. )? Have signs been posted that ban him from entering businesses in the area?
You can’t miss him. He’s always in that area. He has short gray/white hair and facial hair. The article says he seems to be in his 40s but to me he looks older than that. He never stops moving – he’s constantly twitching, jerking, and moving around. He’s unmistakable.
I’ve seen him standing in the bus stop naked from the waist down. He steals from nearby stores and tells them to go ahead and call the cops because they won’t do anything, and so far he’s been right on that point.
If he’s aware that there are no repercussions, he isn’t completely crazy
Yeah, he’s hard to miss. Bares a striking resemblance to Ser Davos Seaworth in GOT. My daughter and I pass him every morning walking to school, usually still sleeping, and I say to myself ‘aye Ser Davos, is this what becomes of you?’
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I’m pretty sure there are all kinds of state laws that prohibit the cops from doing anything. You can’t make someone go into a shelter. You can’t force them to get mental health treatment. I think if people are unable to take care of themselves and are a menace to the general public , laws should be readdressed and changed so that there are ways to help and treat people regardless of there desires. If a person is operating with a brain that no longer works properly, society should step in and make decisions.
You make an interesting point about broader mental health policy. Dems give Reagan a hard time for deinstitutionalization, but it’s not as if Democratic majorities in Sac have brought institutionalization back to life. Then again, there may be a good reason for that. I would hate to make the call on who stays in and who gets let out. And what if they stay good while on medication but then relapse? This guy might qualify as a dead ringer but I would hate to police the grey area.
i hate that nothing has been done about this guy and worry that once the navigation center opens we will have more and more of this in the neighborhood we all call home and our children frequent. the other regular aggressive – street person on the streets of northeast bernal is the bearded-dirty guy, i have seen him approach parents inside the playground and seen them give him money. STOP GIVING THESE PEOPLE FOOD AND MONEY and i guarantee you we will see less and less of them. call 911 when you are confronted and wait for the police from a safe distance. we need to learn to work the system to clear our neighborhood and keep it clear. if we are a village we need to act like one.
The act of entering the playground by a person with a known history for threatening and lewd behavior has to be interpreted as an immediate threat. I surely hope anyone seeing this immediately calls 911.
Isn’t there an elementary school about 50 feet from that bus stop?
Two in fact.
“Hmmm, what to do about a threatening guy exposing himself near a school and playground, what to do, what to do…” Only in SF would this question be asked, it seems (ok, maybe Portland). We are going to have a serious Giuliani-style conservative backlash (which I do not want) if our liberal/progressive city can’t figure out basic stuff like this out soon. Crazy people threatening the populace and one of the highest car break-in/property theft rates in the US and progressive Supes and their voters say “we shouldn’t criminalize the mentally ill and the poor.” Damn right we shouldn’t–we should criminalize CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR. I mean, Jesus…
I’ve thought this for a while. A “law and order” mayoral candidate—provided they checked all the other boxes correctly—would sweep in a mayoral election.
It does seem like it could happen soon. My friends and I, liberals all, have been discussing this for a while, too (we actually can’t believe it hasn’t happened yet). After having been here for 20 years and seeing the tax base grow while public services like street maintenance, police, and homeless services don’t get any better, it’s frustrating. I would welcome a pragmatic liberal Scott Weiner-type (the classic “anywhere else he’d be a liberal but in SF he’s seen as conservative”) running things, but I fear it could be some libertarian tech dude, or worse, an actual Giuliani-style guy (NYC used to be incredibly liberal, too, remember). It would be sad to see SF move rightward because it’s leftist politics can’t get things done, but part of me does think that’s the pendulum swing we might need to get anything to change.
Very much agree, Michael.