Officers patrolled Caledonia Street near the 16th Street BART Plaza Thursday morning, and three San Francisco police officers approached an individual who had a blanket covering his lap. In Spanish, they told the middle-aged man they were going to move his blanket to the side. After the man gave his name, he removed a bandage from his right middle finger. Officers asked if he needed an ambulance, but he refused. “He didn’t have anything on him,” said one of the officers later. “He was okay.”
Seventeen minutes later, at 9:59 a.m., San Francisco sheriff’s deputies and police officers had a separate man in handcuffs, leaned up against a steel fence at the corner of Caledonia and 15th streets.
As they escorted the man into a van, one of the sheriff’s deputies said, “There was a warrant out for his arrest.”
Mission Local has reached out to the Sheriff’s Department for more information about the arrest.
By 10:17 a.m., On Julian Avenue, three people gathered near Mission National Bank, where a security guard is usually posted to move individuals along, though no guard was present at the time of this report. People with suitcases walked south down Julian Avenue as vehicles navigated the street slowly.
At 10:38 a.m., Wiese Street had two individuals present. The area remained quiet with minimal activity, though it typically swells and decompresses as the day progresses.
The southwest 16th Street Plaza, where the San Francisco Police Department has parked a large mobile unit, looked clean and calm.
By 10:43 a.m., a police cruiser was parked at the northeast 16th Street Plaza, near the BART entrance. An officer sat inside the cruiser. Fruit vendors began setting up their stands as bags of ice were delivered on a dolly from a nearby business.
A few minutes later, Capp Street saw about half a dozen people near the intersection of 16th and Capp streets. An elderly man rolled a trash can filled with bags of trash down the middle of the street. Throughout the morning, Capp Street experienced a heavier presence of individuals.
“In Spanish, they told the middle-aged man they were going to move his blanket to the side.”
That’s called threatening to conduct an illegal search. If you really witnessed that, you should report them to the DPA.