An altercation involving several homeless men and a security guard at the El Capitan Hotel concluded with calls to police and paramedics. One homeless man was carted off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace and ferried to the hospital.
The incident occurred around 1 p.m. in the parking lot area of the El Capitan Hotel in the 2300 block of Mission Street. Four men said a security guard approached them, where their possessions and a mattress were set up in the lot and adjacent to the driveway onto Mission, and demanded they leave.
Victor Juarez, one of the four homeless men, said he had been resting when the security guard came into the underpass and rousted him and his colleagues. When one man failed to respond, Juarez said the guard lifted that man up, slammed him into the pavement, and then tossed him to the sidewalk. Juarez said he knew the guard from prior incidents, claiming the guard harassed them at least twice before.
The injured man was known as Otonil by his friends, and appeared dazed as he was loaded into an ambulance.
One witness said he had been smoking near the area when he heard lots of yelling, then saw a pressure cooker fly out from the underpass connecting the lot and Mission Street. Then he saw Otonil also fly out of the underpass and land on the sidewalk.
It is unclear if the pressure cooker was thrown at the guard or, as the homeless men said, was tossed by the guard towards the sidewalk.
Nancy Pili Hernandez, an educator who works in the area, said she had been walking past the El Capitan when she saw the security guard picking up one of the men. She said she approached him and asked him to stop being aggressive. She said the guard began tossing the homeless men’s possessions onto the sidewalk following the physical altercation.
“I did see him be hella overly aggressive to someone who was passed out sleeping,” Hernandez said.
The security guard declined to comment.
Police said they were investigating the incident, and were seen loading the pressure cooker into the back of a squad car.
Homelessness is a big issue, but I noticed that so many have mental health issues or have drug addictions and other past histories that make it hard for them to be housed or stay housed. I have lived in a complex in which former homeless were housed only to end up homeless again, and it was mainly due to their violent behavior and drug addictions. In some cases the shelter may be over crowed, in other cases homeless people refuse the shelters because of too many rules and regulations they would have to follow. It really depends on the individual and what their issues are and how determined they are to overcome the challenges they face and seek help. Housing in San Francisco is not easy to get out here it is really expensive with too much traffic congestion and over crowding you will most likely end up on some waiting list, or rent a room out of someones property. I noticed not a lot of people see homeless people in a good light, it’s always harsh and negative perceptions and I understand why, but we have to also keep in mind that everyone struggles in life we must consider that, we live on this earthly plane and we as humans still have a lot to learn about what it means to live this life and overcome our obstacles based on our own individual stories.
There are many homeless people in areas like Cow Hollow and other so-called elite areas in San Francisco. The only way homelessness will be fixed is by tackling all the reasons why people are homeless including addictions, violence, the high price of housing, etc. Take a look at my story which was published in this newspaper on March 19th. There was a lot in my life that led to my homelessness, but now I am housed in a nice little two bedroom flat in Laurel Village through Section 8 – and have a beautiful two-year-old daughter. It is so easy to make these kind of harsh statements when we have a place to call home. Another huge factor in my homelessness was not making three times the rent to live in San Francisco. ?
Rachel, the idea of mine is not to degrade homeless people or be harsh, but to shed light on the issue. On average, those with money live in rich areas where homelessness is not an issue to the scale of neighborhoods like the Mission and Tenderloin. These rich folks tend to vote in very high numbers and have influence with the elected class and developers. In rich areas, neighbors own their homes and are much more likely to be involved in their immediate neighborhood. As soon as any blight moves in they are all over it. In the Mission for example, many folks rent and frankly want a little blight as this supposedly keeps rents down. In addition, many in the Mission are undocumented and fear raising their voice as they don’t want to get deported.
Unless the rich see this issue as an emergency like so many residents of the Mission see it, then this issue will never get the funding needed to actually make a difference. Sometimes to make change, you have to do something drastic and seemingly harsh.
The fact you are in a 2 bedroom place is great, but that takes tax payer money. You also were not so mentally insane that you could actually go to college and take classes. If all the homeless were like yourself, the issue would not be as grave. I applaud your hard work and thank you for sharing your story. You truly are an inspiration and wish you were the rule and not the exception.
The main issue is the mental illness. Without being able to lock people up against their will, we will continue to see more and more folks on the streets with no way to help themselves. They cannot and will not take care of themselves because they can’t.
What’s a nicer way to say in a slogan, “bring back the loony bins”? because that is what we need without the stigma of it being a loony bin.
Love how the journalist refers to the homeless folks as “colleagues” as if they are coworkers on a power point presentation.
Setting up camp on private property is illegal and people have the right to defend their property. This security guard seems to be a bit of an a-hole, but I believe the law is on his side. His job is to protect the property of his boss. People don’t want to park in a parking lot littered with homeless folks. It tends to give them anxiety about possessions in their car.
The only was the homeless situation will get fixed is when the homeless start camping out in the areas where the supervisors and elites live. When is a tech billionaire going to drop a few million dollars paying homeless to spend days at a time in the rich neighborhoods? Outfit them with a bag full of food and a tent. Give them a GPS monitor and $100. IF they stay in the same neighborhood for 3 days, they get another $100. Have them wear body cameras to detail the interactions with police and neighbors. It wouldn’t take that much money to do some real damage. Michael Moore could make a documentary with the footage. If homeless are littered through Forrest Hill, Nob Hill, Russian hill, cow hollow, pacific heights, and other rich areas, you would see funding for navigation centers soar. Real change cannot and will not happen until the rich and elite are affected. What would Nancy Pelosi do if a homeless person was sleeping in front of her house every day?
John Thompson for Mayor! You nailed it dude! Agree 100% never seen homeless in cow hollow Rachel.