KCBS reports that an overnight fire in a Mayflower Street night revealed an unexpected surprise:
Firefighters battled a one-alarm fire in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood where they uncovered an illegal marijuana grow operation this morning, a fire dispatcher said.
A report of a fire in the 300 block of Mayflower Street came in around 3:50 a.m., the dispatcher said.
Apparently, an arrest was made after the secret was discovered:
Over the weekend a home on the 600 block of Peralta Avenue in Bernal Heights was tagged with Occupy Bernal Heights graffiti, prompting several neighbors to share photos of the damage with Bernalwood.
Graffiti seems incongruent with the above-board (and generally impressive) tactics of Occupy Bernal Heights activists, so Bernalwood reached out to Neighbor Buck Bagot from Occupy Bernal for insight. He replied:
Occupy Bernal hasn’t been active as Occupy Bernal in over a year, since we folded into SF ACCE. We’re now doing a lot of work helping folks in Bernal and the Mission fight Ellis Act evictions. (We helped the tenants at 23rd and Florida save their 10-unit building). And that’s not our style. No vandalism or violence, especially towards the Police.
Whatever vandal did it must think they evicted prior residents of something – no excuse though. Juvenile and destructive. And not effective either. A very few of the Occupy SF folks have no aspirations to tap the support of the vast majority of our neighborhood/City/nation. Like the term “99%” – we mean it. [Graffiti is] destructive, and counter productive.
PHOTOS: Top, Rally P.; Below, Evan S.
Neighbor Sarah, your invaluable volunteer Bernal Heights crime reporter, attended the SFPD Ingleside Community meeting in June, and she filed these summary notes on the latest Bernal Heights crime trends. Read on, read carefully, be smart, and stay safe:
Notes from Ingleside community meeting.
June 17, 2014Capt. Falvey presided. There was some sort of malfunction in getting the Compstat profile, so he didn’t have a handout with May’s stats.
CRIME STATS & TRENDS
Violent crimes are down quite a bit YTD. City-wide, homicides are at 13, which is a contrast to the early- to mid-2000s when the average was 90-100 a year.Shootings in the district are down 40% YTD. Probably many factors contributing to it, including jobs program run out of Mayor’s Office for Violence Prevention, gun buyback, community groups, garden project/employment for youth, 1099 Sunnydale (offering city services), and video cameras in the Sunnydale.
Robberies are down 27 or 28% YTD. Fewer cell-phone robberies.
One type of robbery is trending up – people on prostitution websites arrange ‘dates,’ then rob the would-be client (who is carrying cash and is arriving alone, and who is also embarrassed to report crime or follow through on IDing suspects). Made some good arrests in a case where a 21-year-old single guy was robbed and wasn’t afraid to come forward – police made a fake appointment, then, after brief chase, arrested a group of five people. But another one of these happened last week, so there is more than one crew of people doing this.
Aggravated assault still high, driven by felony domestic violence.
Property crimes up since 2011, when ‘realignment’ occurred and property criminals were released from prisons.
– Auto thefts up 45% vs average before then.
– Burglaries improving now (26 in May vs average of 42 over last 2 years), but spike in first part of June (on pace for 35).
– 65% of stolen cars in May were pre-2001 Hondas and Acuras. Auto theft arrests up 30%. – 1/3 of cars recovered in district were stolen in outside district or cities.TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
Citations still up YTD (+31%) – SFPD focus on pedestrian safety
– A little lower in May than in first four months
– If you have intersections that you’d like traffic enforcement operations at, email sfpdinglesidestation@sfgov.org. At the request of a Bernal neighbor, I submitted the intersection at Bernal Heights Blvd/Bradford/Esmeralda.
– 94% of tickets in recent months have gone to motorists; 4% to pedestrians; 2% to bicyclists.SCAMS
Current scam where people call you saying you owe the IRS money and they’ll appear at your house in 45 minutes unless you go wire money. The IRS does not do this. Spread the word.Also seeing fake PG&E inspectors who are asking to check something in back yard. When you’re out in the back with that person, an accomplice comes in and robs your house. As for PG&E ID, call PG&E, and/or call police and have them sort it out if one of these people knocks on your door.
One thing that is NOT a scam is the SF Police Officers Association calling to sell tickets to an upcoming rodeo at Cow Palace. Chief has received many questions/complaints about this.
CRIME PREVENTION TIPS
30-40% of burglaries are still through open windows or unlocked doors. Do NOT leave windows open, even on 2nd or 3rd floors – burglars will climb up and get in. Lock side doors and make sure locks are in good order before you leave for vacation.Recent burglary in Miraloma Park was thwarted by alert neighbor who noticed a guy standing as lookout in a driveway. Police came and arrested him. Other guy jumped out of second-story window and was caught a few blocks later because he’d hurt his feet in the jump. Turned out he was wanted for attempted murder in Oakland.
UPCOMING EVENTS
National Night Out – Tues., August 5, 5-8pm at Police Academy (350 Amber Dr., next to Diamond Heights Shopping Center). Specialty units, police demos, NERT, ALERT, Walk SF, Bike Coalition, SFSAFE will all be on hand. Very fun event for kids and a great way to tour police academy. Free BBQ dinner and lots of giveaways. Also very convenient to Silver Tree Day Camp – come by on your way home and have a free meal!Sunday Streets in the Excelsior – Sunday, Sept. 28
Fiesta on the Hill – Bernal Heights – Sunday, October 19
Other events
Contact the MTA to apply for a permit for block
St. Mary’s Park/Rec Center – July 12 – community playdate and picnic
McLaren concert series – free concertsQ&A
St. Mary’s Park area – pattern of robberies by group of 4-5 kids/teens (12-15 years old). Any update? Arrests were made after winter series of robberies. Not sure if current robberies are same group (ie, now out of detention) or different group. Police increasing patrols. St. Mary’s Rec Center manager was at the meeting and said they have more staff in the summer for the day camps and are stationing people around park to keep an eye out.NO MEETING IN JULY – the captain will be away. Next meeting will be in August.
There you have it. Please give Neighbor Sarah a sexy Steve McQueen wink for all the hard we she does coordinating with the SFPD and typing up these notes. Thank you, Sarah!
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
There’s an anti-graffiti warrior on patrol along Bernal’s western frontier, and Neighbor Jaime Ross with the North West Bernal Alliance tells Bernalwood he could use your support:
North West Bernal has a one-man graffiti abatement program.
His name is Joe (shown above), and until recently he wasn’t willing to let anyone know about him, for fear of reprisal from taggers. And he went out under cover of night. But now he has no choice but to go public. He needs your donations to continue the never-ending job of keeping our neighborhood free from graffiti.
Here’s the back story:
In 1989, the top concerns at the North West Bernal Alliance meetings were graffiti and safety.
All the buildings along the Mission St corridor, from Cesar Chavez were vandalized. The property owners didn’t seem to care, so Joe (a member of the NWBA) decided to go out and get rid of as much graffiti as he could. That’s how the NWBA Graffiti Abatement program started.
Joe worked hard at it, and after several weeks he painted out all the graffiti from Chavez to Randall. But new graffiti appeared almost daily. It was an enormous job just keeping that area clean.
It took almost 3 years to get to a place where he was able to remove graffiti quickly. Then he was ready to tackle Mission Street from Randall to the 280 overpass.
Some days it took 10 hours to clean that area, but he was determined to get rid of all of it.
Once that removal became routine, he moved on to Glen Park.By 1997 he was covering about 25 miles a day working 6-8 hours a day. He had some help but still it was a huge undertaking.
Joe depended on sporadic donations from grateful merchants and a few grants from SF Beautiful. He’s getting some money from a Community Challenge Grant, formally the Beautification Fund, The Department of Public Works donates paint for city trash cans; telephone poles; traffic call boxes and postal furniture, but it doesn’t nearly cover the cost for all the other paint and supplies Joe needs, so he’s using his own money.
Joe’s daily route consists of 36 miles, and Mondays he covers an additional 7 miles for a total of 43 miles of graffiti abatement.
We’d be grateful for your support to keep our neighborhood free from graffiti with a tax deductible donation. We’ll be happy to send an acknowledgment letter on our letterhead for tax purposes.
Please go to our website and click “Donate” on the right
Or you can send a check to:
North West Bernal Alliance PO BOX 40989
San Francisco, CA 94140-0989
PHOTOS: North West Bernal Alliance
Neighbor Sarah, your invaluable volunteer Bernal Heights crime reporter, attended the SFPD Ingleside Community meeting on DATETK, and she shares these notes on the latest Bernal Heights crime patterns.
Executive Summary: Trending positive.
Read on, read carefully, and stay safe:
Here are my notes from the May 20 community meeting at the Ingleside Station. Amber from the BHNC and several other Bernal neighbors attended as well.
Capt. Falvey presided.
CRIME STATS AND TRENDS (See attached Compstat report)
Overall, good in April.
The one startling number is rape – 10 vs 5 YTD. In 2/3 of cases, was a known suspect (date rape or spousal rape). Made 5 arrests this year for rape.
Robberies down 25% YTD. On pace for 16 in May vs 36 last May. Average has been 32/mo over past 2 years.
Cell phone robberies down, but two recent thefts/robberies on bus near Glen Park BART – someone grabbed phone from passenger and jumped off bus at bus stop. Don’t look at your phone when you’re riding MUNI, esp. if you’re sitting near an exit or approaching a stop.Not a lot in the way of robbery patterns right now.
Aggravated assaults up, driven by domestic violence and family violence.
Burglaries are down 25% YTD. Only one bike stolen in Bernal from garage – recent arrests seem to have nabbed right people.
Auto boostings down too. Auto thefts remain high – got grant from downtown to have license-plate-reading devices on patrol cars. 26 arrests YTD, 7 last month. Stolen cars still mostly used for transportation and turn up at some point. Increase in cars from other districts being recovered in our district. Pre-2001 Hondas and Acuras make up about 50% (which is actually down from levels in past).
Ingleside is 2nd largest population, 6th highest in crime in SF, 3rd safest per 1000 people (Richmond and Taraval have less crime).
Felony crime overall down 15% YTD.
Auto theft is current priority.
Serving a lot more search warrants these days.TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT
1000 citations in April, +35% YTD Huge emphasis for SFPD
No traffic trailer right now – one loaned to Sunset/Yorba because of recent collisions and one in the shop (should be back soon)
77-year-old pedestrian struck at 30th/Dolores – report says pedestrian was crossing against light.
Parents, do not cross with kids in middle of the street! Teaches them it’s OK.
ILLEGAL GAMBLING OPERATIONS
Court ruling against sweepstakes gambling; Cybertime and Netstop closed down. One cafe left – City Attorney meeting with cafe’s attorneys.
The other trend here is vacant buildings with windows covered, machines inside. Working with City Attorney to go after property owners.
GRAFFITI ABATEMENT – Officer Martin Ferreira
He has been in this unit for three years. 201 arrests last year: 175 adults, 26 juveniles. Dispels myth that most graffiti vandals are aimless youth. Profile is more thrillseeker, “extreme sport” type.
5 arrests last month in Ingleside – from 2 incidents, one on Mission corridor, one on Alemany corridor. One crew was from LA. Total of four adults, one juvenile arrested.
White garbage containers (to hold bins inside) being tagged in Outer Mission. Remove graffiti right away – best deterrent. Lights and cameras good as well.
If your house is hit, make a police report with cost estimate to repair damage. Threshold for felony is just $400 in damage.
Most juveniles arrested are sent to program where they have to paint over graffiti for 96 hours in total.Current prolific tagger is “Spark” – not IDed yet.
Send photos of tags to graffiti unit – martin.ferreira@sfgov.org
Most graffiti is NOT gang-related (95% is NOT gang) except in certain corridors in Mission (22nd/Florida)Who is responsible for graffiti on AT&T boxes? AT&T. Call 311 to notify. DPW will notify AT&T. Eradication is key.
EVENTS
8/5 National Night Out at Police Academy (350 Amber next to Diamond Hts Safeway), 5-8pm. Will be a really good event – specialty units, police demos, free BBQ, giveaways, lots of stuff for kids.
Q&A
Problem house in Central Bernal – old occupants coming back after having been evicted and after property owner settled with City Atty. Question about why no arrests? Property owner needs to sign citizens’ arrest but has not done that. Sale pending and new owner should take over soon.
Glen Canyon Park – people speeding down Elk, running stop signs. Camps about to start. Request enforcement.
Many many many thanks to Neighbor Sarah for the notes and her dedication to keeping Bernal safe.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Neighbor D. explains why some residents of Nevada Street are feeling a little more secure this week:
Well, the wandering zombie walker burglar ( as known to us on the 300 block of Nevada St.) was finally handcuffed & arrested last Friday evening. We refer to this guy as the “walker” because he looks like a zombie. He was captured after he tried (unsuccessfully) to pick our front door lock.
The zombie walker has been opening mailboxes, looking for packages and unlocked doors on both cars and houses for months now in this area. He is a tall, thin, African American male in in late 20’s / early 30’s. He is either homeless /transient, or his modus of operation may just be to appear homeless/transient.
I was heading from my kitchen area to my living room last Friday at 7:45pm to pull the shade on my front window down when I heard a noise from my front door handle. Then I heard the sound of something hit my front porch light, coming from these crazy looking, home made devices made from what looked like gardening tools. Then I saw the shadow of an unexpected visitor on our porch.
I immediately opened my front door as he walked down my front stairs to the sidewalk. I just looked at this crazy crackhead who tells me ” I ain’t doing nothing wrong” repeatedly. My response was “well you ain’t doing nothing right either, since you are clearly up to no good!”
My partner and watched him as he was went from house to house with his tools and Hefty garbage bag. We calked 911, and the SFPD nabbed him at Putman & Crescent as he was tossing all his stuff while being chased. Once we called SFPD, they knew his description immediately and the officers had him handcuffed within 10 minutes.
I will be pressing charges for attempted burglary.
Let’s not dance around it: From a crime and tranquility perspective, the last few weeks have really really sucked. In the meantime, however, Neighbors Sarah and Edie attended the monthly SFPD Ingleside community meeting, and they shared their (typically) wonderful notes on local crime trends, which are actually rather encouraging:
Ingleside Police District Monthly Community Meeting April 15, 20141
Captain’s Report by Captain Tim Falvey timothy.falvey@sfgov.orgIngleside Crime Trends as of March 24th
- Overall violent crime is down 14% YTD, robberies down 21%.
- Overall felony crimes are down 16% since last year.
- Burglaries are down 28% YTD. Police are trying to get down to pre-realignment numbers (prior to the early release of criminals due to prison overcrowding).
- Auto theft numbers are flat. Police did an abatement exercise in March, arresting 6 people driving stolen cars, and they’re hoping to see a further drop off in April stats.
- Auto break-ins are still high. On April 1, 5 cars were broken into in a 2-block area.
Enforcement efforts, situation updates, and things to remember
- Traffic and Pedestrian Safety. Pedestrian safety is a high SF priority. One major danger is in intersections where a driver is turning left and concentrating on cars coming towards them rather than on the pedestrians in the crosswalk. As a pedestrian, pay attention while crossing streets.
In the Ingleside, the Focus on the 5 campaign, where police target the 5 worst traffic infringement intersections in the area, has resulted in a 32% increase in traffic citations. Drive safely, and if you notice a bad intersection, email http://www.sdfpdinglesidestation@sfgov.org
Current problem areas for speeding in the Ingleside are Teresita Blvd at Isola Way, Alemany near Corpus Christie School, and Cayuga near Balboa High School. The police currently have a radar trailer on Teresita Blvd; slow down if you don’t want a ticket. If you have a spot that needs the trailer, contact the Captain.
- Update on Gambling storefronts.
Gambling shacks are businesses that provide computers with gaming programs, and sell internet access time for gambling only. Look for storefronts with covered windows, where not everyone is allowed in, and security cameras may be present. They tend to attract drug dealers, prostitutes, and others intent on criminal activity, and cause increases in neighborhood crime.
32 states have declared stores that host computers with internet gambling access to be illegal gambling sites. In March, the State Supreme Court also in California agreed. The city attorney sued NET STOP at 4455 Mission, which is now closed. Captain also took the ruling to the two remaining storefronts in the Ingleside. One had already closed, the other is protesting and wants to stay open.
- Tips to remember and share with your neighbors.
Fraud: People have been getting calls from official agencies saying someone is under arrest and they need to pay to get out. For example: FBI calls, says your relative is here, go get a gift card, scratch off number and read it to us to pay bail. Sheriffs Dept. asking for payment via gift card or from on your account or your relative will stay in jail. Neither the FBI nor the Sheriff”s Department will ever do this, so spread the word. Also people call and say you won some money, but must pay the taxes in order to receive it. Don’t believe any of these ploys. Hang up and call the police.
Home Burglaries: 10 or 11 this month. Half were through an unlocked or open window or door. 2 were open garage doors. During warm weather we all like to open windows to enjoy the fresh air. However, remember that once a burglar makes his way over a fence, through a side yard, or up over a roof and into one back yard, then it’s easy for them to jump the fence from house to house, looking for open doors and windows and other opportunities. Also, if you’re going on vacation, please don’t announce it beforehand on social media. Thieves can locate your comments online, figure out where you live, break in and clean out your house.
Auto Burglaries: If you have an older Honda, use a Club. Don’t leave valuables in your car, or even anything that might look interesting. If you have a garage door opener, take it out of your car whenever you park it – especially outside your house.
- Successful gun buyback on April 5th. The Ingleside Community Police Advisory Board co-hosted a gun buyback and the line was 1½ blocks long for an hour. Police received 188 weapons, incl. 80 handguns & 6 assault rifles. These appeared to be guns people had in their homes, so this means that burglars won’t be able to steal them and use them. If you have a gun or ammunition, just call the police and ask to turn it in, and police will come by and pick it up for you.
Q/A:
- Tagging and Graffitti:
What can owner do about graffiti on her house under construction? Take pictures & file a report with the police graffiti abatement officer. Often police can identify the tag and, with information about multiple tags by the same tagger, charge the tagger with a felony rather than a misdemeanor. Then paint graffiti over, turn lights on at night, let neighbors know what’s happened and show them the pictures of the tags, so they can keep an eye out, too.
Increase in tagging around freeway fences and nearby houses. Police arrested three people tagging and checked their cell phones. They had photos of all the tags they’ve done around the city, boosting the amount of damage done, and were charged with a felony. (It’s a misdemeanor if damage done is less than $400, more than $400 is a felony.)
- Shooting at the Pacific Super. Two guys were talking, one reached into his car, the other pulled out a gun, and shot. An innocent bystander was hit in the let. Police have a good description of the vehicle, and are moving forward on the case.
- Man jailed for threatening people with a big chain is back on the street. He’s carrying a really long knife and threatened a female roommate at his house on Laura and Alemany. Lots of people live in that same house / police called repeatedly.
- Complaints from Sunnydale residents about non-residents parking cars there. DPT and police cleared out the parking lot. A few were stolen, others had expired registrations and were towed.
- Arlington & Randall, near Fairmount School: large commercial trucks belonging to California Carpet & La Copa Loca Ice Cream park there for over limited 72 hours, double park, and block views in intersections. People have been seen moving things from one vehicle to another, and spray-painting the trucks with graffiti art.
- Coleridge St. at 7 pm, a neighbor was robbed at gunpoint and knocked over. Officers around the city are viewing the video to identify the perps. Ingleside has easy access from freeways, so many criminals who come here to rob are from other places.
- Leadership HS students concerns about police. Two students, waiting at the J stop for the train, were recently asked by the police to what school they were from and then asked to leave J stop. Their teacher reports they are good kids, so what might be done to improve the relationship between police and Leadership High students? A: on May 7th there will be a Youth Summit at Balboa HS, sponsored by the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center. Participating youth write youth/police dialogs and consult with local police for their point of view; they will act out the dialogues at the Summit.
Upcoming Events and Activities:
More info at: http://www.inglesidepolicestation.com/#! community-announcements
May 7th Youth Summit at Balboa HS. Youth write youth/police dialogs in consultation with police to understand police point of view, and then act them out at the Summit.
Recruiting HS Cadets for the SF PAL Cadet Program. Program runs 4 weeks in the summer, 6 hours a day. It teaches discipline and after students successfully complete it, they can intern at local police stations. A great opportunity for any HS student interested in a career in law enforcement.
National Night Out on Tuesday, August 5th, 2014, 5pm @ Police Academy, 350 Amber at Duncan, behind Christopher Playground. Join your neighbors, meet the officers, enjoy the barbecue, and attend presentations on pedestrian safety, SAFE, ALERT, and more.
Next Ingleside Police District Community Meeting, May 20, 7pm. Ingleside station.
PHOTO: Telstar Logistics
Well, if we have to report on crime, at least this is the sort of crime that’s somewhat titillating. Vivian Ho from the Chronicle reports that for one Bernal Heights resident, a recent evening of hookup and bondage went rather wrong:
The 63-year-old victim believed he was going to have sex with the man when he invited him back to his apartment on Elsie Street at 3 a.m. April 7, according to police.
But he quickly learned that his purported paramour was into bondage, and in a bad way.
While bondage is a fetish some enjoy, in this case the victim found himself tied up against his will to his bedpost with neckties, said police spokesman Officer Gordon Shyy.
As he struggled in this compromising position, the suspect took off with his laptop, cell phone and tablet.
The victim was able to free himself and file a police report at Ingleside station.
Once again, a street-facing security camera has captured detailed footage of an infuriating crime in Bernal Heights. This latest incident was non-violent, fortunately, but also terribly common.
A neighbor on Elsie narrates the security camera video [Dropbox-hosted] that shows a would-be thief breaking in to her family’s car:
My husband’s car got broken into [during the week of April 7, 2014] in front of our house on Eslie, and we have it on video. It’s not as riveting as the recent robbery video that Bernalwood posted, but it’s interesting to see how they do it.
This happened at about 2am. You see a car driving slowly along the street, close to the parked cars. I am guessing they are looking for Hondas/Acuras, because they have shaved keys. They then stop in my neighbor’s driveway, and two people get out.
The first guy works on my husband’s car (black Honda) for a while, apparently not noticing that the rear passenger window (the small panel behind the main window) had been knocked out in an earlier break-in. The second guy starts working on other cars on the street. It’s hard to see because the windowframe is blocking him, but you can see him start to work (unsuccessfully) on my visiting mother-in-law’s Prius behind the Honda, then you can see his shadow as he goes across the street.
The first guy eventually gets in through the driver’s door and gets all the way into the car and shuts the door. He was rifling through stuff on the inside (everything was all over the place in my husband’s car this a.m.), and then he pops the trunk and looks inside. My husband’s car has been broken into so many times that he doesn’t leave anything – even pennies – in there. Eventually, the first guy gets out and goes back to the waiting car, and the second guy comes running up and hops in, and the car drives off.
As you may know, “cow-tipping” is mostly at the stuff of rural legend. As Modern Farmer explains, “Cow tipping, at least as popularly imagined, does not exist. Drunk young men do not, on any regular basis, sneak into cow pastures and put a hard shoulder into a cow taking a standing snooze, thus tipping the poor animal over.”
That may be true. Yet here in Bernal, we have experienced a very real wave of Smart Car Tipping which has seen [probably drunk] young men sneaking onto quiet streets and putting a hard shoulder into parked Smart Cars, thus tipping the poor vehicles over.
Neighbor Dyche reports from the scene of a Smart Car Tipping incident last night:
The crack team at Bernalwood might already have heard this over the police scanner but, just in case: there has been a rash of Smart Car tippings in the neighborhood. The last count I heard was three. The first I heard of this phenomenon was a crash outside my front door followed by the sound of a vehicle racing away. I ran outside to find my neighbor’s Smart Car tipped on its side into the middle of the road. This occurred around 1:00 AM on the corner of Ogden and Anderson Streets. The car suffered what appears to be minor damage (including broken windows and side-view mirror. The Smart Car of my other neighbors remains, mercifully, untipped.
Please caution readers to look after their little buddies. If they can, maybe put them in the garage for a day or two.
Or the barn, if you have one. Meanwhile, KRON-TV reports on other incidents around Bernal and in the Portola:
Witness Brandon Michael says he was smoking a cigarette when one of the incidents happened near Bowdoin and Sweeny at about 12:30 a.m. Monday.
“All of a sudden I just see eight hooded figures walk up to the car,” Michael says. “I thought it looked like they were up to no good. And then sure enough they walk up to this smart car right here, all huddle around it, and then lift it up and set it on its hind legs.”
Michael says he thinks the whole thing is kind of silly but clearly an act of vandalism.
Police say witnesses report seeing similar vandalism on smart cars at about the same time just on the other side of I-280. One smart car ended up on its side at Anderson and Ogden while another was left on its roof a few blocks away at Anderson and Courtland.
UPDATE: Neighbor Brandon shares these photos of the fourth Smart Carnage incident on Prospect at Coso in Bernal:
PHOTOS: Top, Neighbor Dyche. Below, KRON. Bottom, Neighbor Brandon
Last Saturday afternoon, just as the rain began to fall, I heard the roar of a crowd approaching North Bernal from the Mission. A few minutes later, I ran up Precita to Folom Street, just in time to see a large group of demonstrators protesting the death of Bernal neighbor Alex Nieto, accompanied by sizable contingent of SFPD personnel in riot-control equipment.
The group had assembled and marched from the Mission Cultural Center, and it included many of the standard trappings of a Mission District street protest. Several of the protestors carried signs claiming affiliation with the Bay Area arm of ANSWER, the amorphous coalition of anti-imperialist, anti-racism activists. Others carried signs in English and Spanish decying “SFPD Enforced Gentrification.” Several of the faces in the crowd were familiar to anyone who attended last week’s community meeting about the Nieto shooting at Leonard Flynn School.
The crowd was large as it crossed Cesar Chavez, but the combined effects of the fearsome Folsom Street hill and the increasing downpour meant that by the time the protest reached the spot on the north side of Bernal Hill where Neighbor Alex Nieto was slain, the size of the protest group was somewhat diminished.
Which was perhaps a good thing.
Neighbor Alex’s death is an unspeakable tragedy, and Bernal Heights awaits a definitive report on the circumstances surrounding the officer-involved shooting that took his life. Justice must be pursued.
In the meantime, it has become clear that a great many people — and a great many on all sides of this terrible incident who are not from Bernal Heights — are eager to interpret Nieto’s death through the prisms of their longstanding agendas. That is quite understandable; if if not necessarily compatible with a proper inquiry into the facts surrounding Neighbor Alex’s death.
Yet more than anything else, a proper inquiry and credible answers are what Neighbor Alex, and his family, and Bernal Heights deserve.
PHOTOS: Telstar Logistics
It saddens us that crime is in our headlines right now. Yet crime is in our headlines.
A Bernal neighbor on Coleridge St. filed this report of a brazen armed robbery that took place Tuesday evening before sunset. The assault happened right across from Coleridge Neighbor’s house, which is equipped with a rather impressive security camera. The camera captured the entire thing.
Coleridge Neighbor captions the shocking security camera video (hosted via Dropbox; YouTube had problems with the format):
[On the evening of Tuesday, March 25], one of our new neighbors was mugged at gunpoint walking to his house. The victim is a new neighbor who just bought the house, so this was a horrible way to be introduced to the neighborhood. Please alert readers to stay vigilant
Ironically, we just had security cameras installed and caught the episode on video, which is now in the hands of the police. The video footage shows that at 19:07 (still daylight) two males with dark clothes and hoodies are walking down Coleridge towards Fair St. on the staircase side of the street. The victim was walking up the street on the side of the mini park. The two suspects crossed the street and one pulls out a gun, takes his bag, then the other punches him in the face, making him fall onto the stairs of the lavender building at 78 Coleridge. The robbers then ran down towards Fair St.
It is not clear if there was a getaway vehicle, but the footage also shows an old red Volvo station wagon go by directly after the attack. It all took place in under a minute, but it was very aggressive and shocking to watch. The victim was shaken, but not in need of a hospital.
I am very concerned about it and am questioning how dangerous it is to walk on our street. Luckily we have the security cameras (that I highly recommend others get ASAP), but that does not make me feel better about what happened. My heart goes out to the man and his young family. I wish I could still believe that crime like that did not happen near me.
Here is a detail of the two assailants as they entered the frame, from the video:
Finally, here’s the official summary of the incident from the SFPD Ingleside Station Newsletter:
7:00pm Unit Blk Coleridge Robbery
A victim walking home from Valencia Street was confronted by two suspects who cornered and surrounded him on the unit block of Coleridge Street. One of the suspects came up in front of him and pointed a Silver gun, while his accomplice stood behind the victim. The suspect with the gun then said, “Give me all your stuff”. The victim told Officers Suguitan and Vainshtok that when he saw the gun he feared for his life and handed over his wallet, money, credit cards, cell phone and laptop computer. Once he did that the suspect standing at the rear hit the victim in the face causing him to fall to the ground. A White four door sedan suddenly drove up and picked up the suspects and fled the area at a high rate of speed, last seen headed northbound on Coleridge Street. A witness who happened to be looking out her patio door saw the robbery and was able to provide the officers with further information. Report Number: 140252169
During tonight’s tense community meeting at Leonard Flynn Elementary School, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr released new details about Friday night’s officer-involved shooting death of Bernal Neighbor Alejandro Nieto.
Here’s the coverage from the Examiner:
Alejandro Nieto was shot and killed by police Friday night after being asked to show his hands but instead drawing a Taser that was mistaken for a gun, Police Chief Greg Suhr told a volatile crowd Tuesday night.
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“He did not have a gun, he had a Taser just like this,” said Suhr, pointing to a photo of a black-and-yellow Taser beside him in a packed hall at Leonard Flynn Elementary School.Amid shouts of “I hope you die, [cops]” from the crowd, Suhr gave a quick but detailed retelling of Nieto’s death, explaining first that the 28-year-old was not legally allowed to own a gun because of mental health issues.
Suhr began by reading the log of the 911 caller reporting a man with a black handgun on his hip in Bernal Heights Park at 7:11 p.m. Friday.
Soon afterward, police arrived and, from a distance of about 75 feet, located Nieto, a San Francisco resident.
“They asked him to show his hands,” Suhr said. Instead, Nieto told police to show their hands and pointed at them. When officers saw a red laser light emanating from what was later identified as a Taser, Suhr said, they thought a gun was pointing at them and opened fire in “defense of their own lives.”
When some in the crowd wondered aloud why Nieto had reportedly been hit 14 times, Suhr responded by saying, “We do not know at this point in time how many times Mr. Nieto was hit.”
Suhr also displayed the image of the weapons shown above. The taser recovered from Alejandro Nieto is on the left. On the right is a handgun, shown for comparison.
Your Bernalwood editor was in attendance at the meeting, and I can confirm that those are the facts as presented by SFPD Chief Suhr. You may make of them what you will.
After Suhr’s presentation, members of the public were invited to address the audience. There was grieving for Alejandro Nieto — and other victims of officer-involved shootings. There were questions raised about police training, and the proportional use of force. There were questions raised about the racial underpinnings of police conduct. There were comments that identified gentrification and real estate development as the animating force behind the violence that took Neighbor Alejandro Nieto’s life. You may also make of that what you will.
None of it, however, will undo this tragedy or bring Alejandro Nieto back to the neighborhood and the community he loved.
UPDATE: Vivian Ho from the Chronicle has a very thorough write-up about the meeting last night and the questions that hover over the investigation into what happened on Friday night.
Meanwhile, Bernalwood readers are conducting a robust and constructive discussion of the incident and its aftermath in the comments.
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