The Outer Sunset man who pointed his gun at an overhead San Francisco police drone and was shot at by officers will be released before trial, a San Francisco Superior Court judge decided today.
On March 8, officers responded to a 911 call that Dmitri Hochstatter was wielding a black handgun in his backyard. Hochstatter was later charged by the district attorney’s office with felony assault with a semiautomatic firearm and two counts of child endangerment (neighbors’ children were allegedly present).
Hochstatter’s defense attorney, Neil Hallinan, has disputed officers’ claims that Hochstatter shot himself in his right forearm. His client never even fired his gun, he said, and did not know police were present.
At Hochstatter’s Friday morning arraignment, two of the initial six charges were dropped: discharging a firearm with gross negligence and vandalism of a police drone.
Judge Geraldo Sandoval ordered Hochstatter be released on the condition that he wear an alcohol monitor and have bi-weekly check-ins with a case manager — who could send him to residential treatment, if it appears necessary.
Hochstatter had a .31 percent blood alcohol content at the time of his arrest — almost four times the limit for a DUI.
Sandoval said he shared the concerns of the neighbors who alleged that Hochstatter waved a gun at their children from his backyard. But, ultimately, he did not see the 46-year-old as a public safety threat.
Hochstatter, Sandoval noted, had no prior violent convictions, and had never been seen before with a gun in his backyard. There was no evidence, in the judge’s view, that Hochstatter pointed the gun at anyone except the drone.
Deputy district attorney Nancy Tung objected to Sandoval’s decision: “To release him without trying to address the issues here is a recipe for disaster.”
Hochstatter staggered into court for his arraignment with his arm in a black sling and his jail-issued orange sweatshirt bunched around his shoulders. He had been discharged from the hospital the day before.
In the audience, his wife Jennifer Hochstatter put an arm around her father-in-law, Thomas Hochstatter. In letters to the court, both acknowledged Hochstatter’s long history of alcohol abuse.
“When Dmitri is very drunk, he is impossible to communicate with,” Jennifer Hochstatter wrote. “He gets paranoid about people tracking him digitally and sometimes even physically.”
Still, both maintained that he was a loving father who was never violent or aggressive.
Ten friends and neighbors also submitted letters to the court asking for Hochstatter’s release. They noted that the mixed-media artist was the primary caretaker of his 10-year-old daughter.
“So sad to see them separated for this long,” one friend wrote. “He is with her almost every day of her life so far.”
“Get this man into one of the five new ‘entertainment zones’ and it’s all good!”
#LurieSolutions
This Guy should Not be Allowed to Have Guns AND Alcohol and Be Allowed Back Home !! His Own Wife said he can’t be “communicated with” and “Paranoid” when Drunk !! Thank God i live in the Inner Sunset !!
Did the bullet from his arm match his gun’s bullets or match the SFPD bullets?
Omg!! This is ridiculous to hear that this guy has “fans”!!!!!
Regardless of how tasteful people find his antics, the man was getting drunk in his own back yard so I don’t see how he was a public safety risk, and he wasn’t really that paranoid and crazy if he ended up being shot at and arrested for welding a weapon and pointing it at a drone that was invading HIS privacy and safety of his back yard…. The man doesn’t need to be negotiating probation terms and defending his sanity , he should be getting apologized to for being shot at in his own back yard for no reason …. If the police think pointing guns or drones is enough grounds to shoot at an actual human being we have problems here folks…. What if they shot at a child who pointed a toy gun just because they’re afraid someone is trying to destroy the expensive new toy drones they had donated to them to protect the community. Seriously what are the laws on how close or how invasive these drones can be over private property, this seems like it’s already turning into more of a hazard for people just living their lives,it’s dangerous to be in their own back yards .
Jesus. I wonder what this judge would think if this drunk, gun-wielding psycho were his next door neighbor. Does the judge even live in SF?