On Monday morning, SFPD officers patrolling the 7th and Market area came upon the scene of a suspected aggravated assault that left the female victim lying on the ground with life-threatening injuries, and they detained the suspect who was attempting to walk away.

Cole Wright, 31, of Oakland was arrested Monday after patrol officers from the San Francisco Police Department came upon the aftermath of a violent attack at 7th and Market streets, near UN Plaza, around 8 am, as KRON4 reports.

According to a statement from the department, police quickly detained the suspect who was attempting to leave the scene. The officers then found the adult female victim on the ground with life-threatening injuries and rendered medical aid with the help of paramedics who transported her to the hospital.

Police later arrested Wright after developing probable cause, and he was booked into San Francisco County Jail on charges of aggravated assault and battery causing serious bodily injury. Wright also had three previous active out-of-county warrants.

"This kind of violence will never be tolerated in San Francisco,” said Chief Derrick Lew in the department’s statement. “I want to thank our patrol officers for their excellent police work in taking this violent suspect off the street.”

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information should contact the SFPD at 1-415-575-4444 or Text-A-Tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

Image: Guilhem Vellut/Flickr

• Authorities are investigating an incident caught on video of a man assaulting someone trying to protect a fellow Caltrain passenger whom the attacker was verbally harassing. The incident took place on December 23 at the San Carlos station, and the Good Samaritan was taken to the hospital with facial fractures. [KTVU]

• Parts of Marin County experienced heavy flooding Friday, and a flood advisory was in effect along the coast of the Bay Area through Sunday. This weekend’s king tides are expected to break a 28-year record with flooding extending two-and-a-half feet higher than previous years. [KGO]

• Kirk Laroy Richardson, 61, was arrested for the murder of his parents, who were found dead of gunshot wounds in their Concord home on New Year’s Eve. Richardson reportedly had run-ins with his neighbors in the past, who said they lived in fear of him and filed restraining orders in 2013. [KRON4]

National:

• The FBI announced Friday that the agency prevented a terrorist attack that was potentially going to take place on New Year’s Eve in North Carolina. Authorities arrested Christian Sturdivant, 18, of Mint Hill, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, who was allegedly inspired by ISIS and had been planning the attack for over a year. [NBC News]
• The Trump administration has killed 110 people on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since its first attack September 2. Earlier this week, the US struck a convoy of three boats, and authorities were reportedly searching for eight survivors. [BBC]
• Canadian musician Ashley MacIsaac’s concert was recently canceled after a Google AI overview falsely identified him as a convicted sex offender with the same name, and he’s looking to file a lawsuit for defamation. [NME]

Video of the Day:

• The best view of San Francisco’s New Year’s Eve fireworks just may have been on the Bay Bridge, as drivers abandoned their cars to take in the spectacle.

Leanne Maxwell/SFist

A man attacked four people in Downtown San Francisco early Saturday morning, apparently stabbing three and assaulting another.

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) received an emergency call about an assault in progress near Market and Battery streets at approximately 7:45 a.m., according to KTVU. Simultaneously, reports of a stabbing incident near 4th and Market Streets reached authorities.

SFPD officers reportedly responded to the scene and detained the suspect believed to be responsible for both the assault and the stabbings. Emergency medical services also reportedly attended to all four adult victims were rushed to the hospital to receive medical attention for their injuries.

As of now, the conditions and identities of the victims remain undisclosed. However, SFPD is conducting an active investigation.

RELATED: Social Worker Stabbed Four Times at Tenderloin SRO Wednesday, Remains Hospitalized

Feature image via Google Street View.

Four suspects have been identified and three were arrested in last month’s group attack on a 70-year-old woman in Chinatown, but it certainly complicates their prosecution that the suspects are ages 18, 14, 13, and... 11.

The broad daylight group attack on a 70-year-old woman on July 31 near Chinatown was first reported locally by KGO, and has since made national news, and international news amidst another apparent surge in violent attacks on Bay Area Asian women and elders. We initially learned the victim goes by the surname “Mrs. Ren,” and SF police now know the identities of all four attackers.

But they can only name one of the alleged attackers, 18-year-old Darryl Moore of Oakland, because the other three alleged attackers are under 18 years old and therefore juveniles. And as the Bay Area News Group reports, one of the accused attackers is only 11 years old.  

KPIX has video of Monday's press conference announcing the arrests, seen below. SFPD Chief Bill Scott told those gathered, “The sad part is that we’re here in front of you talking about 14, 13, and 11-year-olds, committing violent robberies.” (Mrs. Ren was reportedly robbed of her iPhone and keys, in addition to the kicks to the head she endured).

Apparently none of the four suspects are San Francisco residents, and most have a previous record. “On August 10, 2022, Milpitas Police Department Officers contacted [the 18-year-old suspect] Moore, the 13-year-old suspect, and the 11-year-old suspect on an unrelated criminal matter and arrested them,” SFPD said in a Monday statement. “The 13-year-old suspect was booked on unrelated charges at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall and is being transferred to the custody of Alameda County, who will book them on the warrant in this case.”

In terms of the 11-year-old, SFPD says “The 11-year-old suspect was transferred to the custody of the Alameda County Assessment Center,” and that “Due to their age, the 11-year-old suspect could not be charged in this case.”  

The 14-year-old suspect is still at large. The 18-year-old Moore is currently detained in Santa Clara County Jail.  

New SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins explained that she’s not pursuing hate crime charges in the matter, or not yet at least. “With regard to hate crimes, they do require the proof of motive,” the Chronicle quotes her as saying. “That oftentimes requires an expression from an assailant or some investigation into past history.”

Update: The 18-year-old suspect, Darryl Moore, has now been charged with felony elder abuse, robbery in the first degree, first degree burglary, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and false imprisonment. The 11-year-old will not be charged.

Jenkins’s recalled predecessor Chesa Boudin took plenty of heat for not charging certain attacks on AAPI victims as hate crimes, and while it may be the wiser prosecutorial choice, Jenkins is getting the same criticism over some of the attacks being prosecuted on her watch.

The question is whether she can manage the fallout better, and to that end, she’s having  a 6 p.m. town hall meeting tonight on the topic at Central Chinese High School.

Related: Six Bay Area Men Arrested For a Staggering 70 Attacks on Asian Women [SFist]

Image: via SFPD

An Asian woman — who, at the moment, only wants to be identified as "Ms. Lee'' — was violently knocked to the ground and held at gunpoint while walking back to her niece's Sunset District residence from dinner with a friend. Her handbag and jewelry, which included a $16K Rolex, were stolen during the attack.

It's become an all too familiar and demoralizing headline to type these days: An Asian [Man or Woman] Was [Robbed and/or Attacked] Somewhere in San Francisco. Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020 — an upward trend of violence and bullying against Asian Americans that’s continued into this year. And the battery of on one Ms. Lee stands as more uncomfortable, concerning evidence of the ongoing attacks against Asian Americans in the United States.

Initially reported by ABC7, Lee was unknowingly followed back to the Sunset by at least two individuals after dining with a friend at a Richmond District dim sum restaurant. Footage of the attack and robbery shows a white SUV racing down an otherwise slow neighborhood street — at one point almost striking two people walking across a cross-section — before doubling back to single-out Ms. Lee.

The footage (that should be noted contains content some might find disturbing and hard to watch) shows Lee being knocked to the ground by one assailant; the male-looking criminal can also be observed holding her at gunpoint before robbing her of a handbag. While Lee’s still stricken and in shock, what looks to be a second attacker returns to steal her jewelry — including among Lee’s pieces a $16K Rolex watch.

"It really changed her so much, every time she talks about it, she cries," says her longtime friend Kathie Mar — who ate with Lee her at the Richmond District dim sum restaurant earlier that day, eventually leaving the eatery around 1:30 p.m. — to the news station’s Dion Lim.

District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar also commented on the increasingly regular attacks on Asian Americans in the city to the ABC7 anchor.

"Everyone in the neighborhood thinks Sunset, Richmond is for families so everybody...no crime here," Gordon Mar, whose district includes the Sunset neighborhoods, tells Lim. "But we're hearing more and more so, these past few years. [Mrs. Lee] is definitely afraid to go out on her own now, to get in and out of her car it's scary."

A resident of the Sunset herself, Kathie Mar wants to help break the stigma that Asian Americans are less likely to speak out against violent crimes done against them than other cohorts. That said: Given the level of trauma the victim has suffered from the attack, Kathie Mar is more than happy to help megaphone Lee’s story while she heals.

"Whatever I can do to let the neighborhood know…[to let] San Francisco know," Lee's "dear friend" concludes.

SFPD is still actively working on the case; Kathie Mar and Lee are hoping her attackers get applicable jail time.

Related: Public Defender Says Attack on Elderly Asian Woman Not Hate Crime, Suspect Himself Was Beaten Up

Elderly Asian Woman Attacked On Market Street Pummels Her Attacker With Stick

Asian Americans In SF and Elsewhere See New Wave Of Racist Attacks Stemming From Pandemic

Image: Unsplash

A pair on gun-wielding robbers terrified two visitors to a San Francisco tourist attraction Tuesday, creeping up on their victims as they took photos at the popular venue.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the shakedown happened at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, at the base of SF's iconic Coit Tower.

Police say that the victims, a 42-year-old man and a 52-year-old woman "were at Coit tower taking photos" when the male suspects approached them from behind.

One of the suspects, police say, then pointed a gun at the couple. The victims were so frightened by the threat that they ran from the scene, leaving their belongings behind.

The thieves got away with the couple's camera equipment and tripod, police say, then fled by car.

No further details on the suspects were available at publication time, but the SFPD could confirm that the duo remain at large and no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Unable To Stem Rising Tide Of Crime, SF Might Close Twin Peaks Lookout After Dusk

A Muni patron was rushed to the hospital this weekend, when two fellow riders attacked him seemingly without provocation.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the assault occurred at 5:22 on Saturday afternoon, as a Muni bus traveled through the intersection at 11th and Market Streets, near the headquarters of Mid-Market startups Square and Uber.

Police say that two male assailants who looked to be aged 16 or 17 "began yelling at" a 17-year-old male who was also on the bus.

The verbal attack turned physical, police say, when the victim tried to get off the bus to escape the yelling men. Instead, the assailants physically "attacked [the victim], knocking him down."

The suspects then fled the bus, police say.

The victim was left injured following the scrum, police say, and was transported to an area hospital for treatment. The suspects remain at large, police say, and no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Beating On Mission Street Muni Sends Man To Hospital

A man who stabbed three people on a BART platform this weekend remains at large Monday, just the latest in an ongoing series of attacks at the transit agency.

According to ABC 7, it was 9:45 a.m. Sunday when the suspect, described as "a white man with short blond hair, between 30 and 40 years old wearing a green army jacket" approached a 20-year-old man on the platform of BART's Lafayette Station.

The suspect demanded the man's backpack. When the victim refused, the Chron reports, the suspect "pulled out a knife and cut him across the forehead."

A 19-year-old man who witnessed the attack attempted to intervene, and was stabbed in the hand, BART police say. A third man was also wounded as he, too, attempted to stop the knife-wielding man.

As noted by the Chron, the platform was very busy, packed with people heading into San Francisco for Fleet Week and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

The suspect fled the scene, BART confirms. The first two victims were transported to John Muir Medical Center for injuries that BART officials say are not considered life-threatening. The third injured man left before law enforcement officials arrived.

The Chron reports that "Law enforcement officials from various jurisdictions, including Lafayette police, joined in the search for the attacker." According to KRON 4, police searched on foot, and also used helicopters and canine units to look for the suspect.

In addition, the Chron says that BART police "closed the station for four hours while they searched for evidence, pulled security video of the attack and brought in cleaning crews to mop up the bloody aftermath of the violence."

BART spokesperson Taylor Huckaby said via statement that "there is no indication of any further threat to passengers because of the incident," CBS 5 reports. Hopeful statements of this type seem to have become a BART spokesperson stock in trade: See BART spokesperson Alicia Trost's remarks a few weeks ago describing a random attack as "out of the ordinary," seemingly forgetting a similar string of random beatings the month before.

But perhaps the fault lies with the area in which the BART station is located, for as Huckaby tells the Chron, “Our stations are snapshots of the communities we serve," even then admitting that “And Lafayette is not a high-crime area.”

Huckaby tells the Chron that it's possible that one of their security cameras captured footage of the man. If so, the photo will be released, as it has been for so many other recent BART crimes.

“Hopefully we will have a good picture,” Huckaby tells the Chron “We want to catch this guy.”

Related: BART Says Randomly Beaten Rider 'Out Of The Ordinary,' Apparently Forgetting Similar Attacks Last Month

An angry motorcyclist remains at large today, after police say he used his helmet to assault a man during a Sunset District dispute.

Police say that the incident went down on the 700 block of Irving Street, which is between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, at 4:57 p.m. Wednesday.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, two men in their late 30s were arguing with the 40-year-old male victim. As the argument escalated, police say that one of the pair of men hit the victim with a motorcycle helmet, then stole the injured man's phone.

Police say that the suspects then fled by motorcycle from the scene.

The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for injuries police say are not life threatening. The suspects remain at large, and police confirm that as of Thursday morning, no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Woman Beaten As She Walks Down Market Street With Young Daughter

Tune into @kron4news @jrstone4 is working on a story where a @SFPD officer was stabbed @flySFO right outside the @SFPDAirport substation. pic.twitter.com/YwSMeOwJe2

— Stanley Roberts (@SRobertsKRON4) September 27, 2017

A man is behind bars this morning, after he allegedly stabbed a veteran San Francisco police officer during an altercation at SFO.

SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel, who spoke with Bay City News, says that at around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, a "suspicious person" was reported "walking near a lower level roadway" at the airport's Terminal 1.

Officers who responded to the report tracked the suspect to the terminal's baggage claim area.

"When the officer asked the man if everything was okay the man began swinging at the officer with a double-edged knife," ABC 7 reports.

Speaking with ABC 7, Deputy SFPD Chief Denise Schmitt says "In this case it happened so quickly the officer reacted with the weapons that he had in his hands and those were his hands."

In the scrum, Schmitt says, "The officer, unfortunately, suffered a stab wound to his left leg, another stab wound to his hand and some other cuts."

SFPD spokesperson Officer Robert Rueca says that the injured officer is a 49-year-old male who "was treated and released from the hospital for lacerations to his hands, neck, face and leg." ABC 7 reports that the victim "has 23 years of experience and has worked at the Ingleside, Bayview and Tenderloin stations. He started working at the airport in September of 2003."

"The first thing he said to me at the scene when I asked him how he was doing was, 'Well I've had better days,'" Schmitt told ABC 7.

Schmitt says that the FBI was notified of the incident, and emphasizes that there was no connection to terrorism suspected in the matter.

The suspect, identified by Rueca as 64-year-old Dooris Johnston, was taken into custody at the scene. He had injuries to his hands for which he was medically evaluated, ABC 7 reports, then was "was booked into the San Mateo County Jail on charges of attempted murder of a peace officer and threats to commit violence," Rueca says.

Rueca says that Johnston's last known address was in San Francisco. According to NBC Bay Area, Johnston is expected to appear in court today at 1:30 p.m.

An unprovoked attack on a woman riding BART from city college drew a seemingly disingenuous response from the transit agency, with a spokesperson terming the random attack as "out of the ordinary" though a similar series of attacks had just happened on the system last month.

It's just the latest in a string of onboard-BART violence so severe that passengers have started suing the transit agency for failing to keep them safe. This time, KRON 4 reports, a man came up behind a woman and "sucker punched" her, leaving her with wounds to the face.

According to Edgar Paz, whose daughter was the victim in the attack, his daughter was on BART between the Oakland Coliseum and San Leandro Stations. As the train approached San Leandro, the suspect hit the woman in the face as she sat.

“She was coming back from City College, and the man walked up to her from behind and sucker punched her,” Paz told KRON 4. “No one helped her. She gathered up her belongings and tried to get a picture of him," getting a photo as the attacker walked away.

Paz says he contacted BART police, "but was not impressed with their response."

When contacted by KRON 4, BART spokesperson Alicia Trost ably toed the company line, saying “Super strange incident here. What we had here was somebody was hit, and it was completely unprovoked, and there was no robbery involved. Something very out of the ordinary and very alarming for us to hear that happened.”

Leaving aside for the moment the possible implication here that BART might consider robbery to be "ordinary" (if so, they're not wrong!) is the troublingly short memory the transit agency appears to demonstrate. After all, it was just August 7 when BART held a press conference and sent a press release to media with photos of a suspect in a series of unprovoked, random attacks on BART.

That suspect, 42-year-old Berkeley resident Mario Christopher Washington, was arrested after an Oakland Fire Department investigator recognized him from the media coverage of those released photos. And now it appears that this recent case might get the similar treatment, as Trost says “What we’re doing right now is trying to figure out what train she was on. She wasn’t really sure, and we’ll have to pull all of the cameras from each and every one of the cars, and that’s why it takes a little bit longer."

"We’ll also pull surveillance footage, so that we can get an image of the suspect, share it with local law enforcement to see who this person was," Trost says.

"But overall, BART is absolutely safe," Trost said, with a completely straight face and no winking or anything. "Things like this actually very rarely happen." Guess it all depends on your definition of "absolutely safe" and "very rare."

Related: Roughed-Up Riders Suing BART For Inadequate Security

An angry woman remains on the loose today, after police say the late-night Muni passenger accompanied by a small child attacked a driver while riding a bus last week.

The Chron reports that the incident happened just after midnight last Thursday, on the 29-Sunset bus.

The tale begins with a surprising act of kindness. According to the Chron, the driver had just pulled away from the stop at Mansell and Hamilton Streets "when she saw a woman chasing the bus with her young child."

Taking pity on the woman's plight, the driver stopped the bus in the traffic lane to allow the woman and child to board. As she did so, she "urged them to hurry because the bus was blocking the lane," the Chron reports.

This apparently angered the passenger, who "spit on the driver and hit her in the eye" as the driver resumed her route. The assault forced the bus driver to stop the vehicle in its tracks, at which point "the woman fled with her child in tow."

Additional details on the suspect and her child were not available, but police say that the woman remains at large, and that no arrests have been made in the case.

A man turned a parking misstep into what police describe as an "attempted robbery" Wednesday, when he attacked a woman who tried to get him to depart a space he improperly occupied.

Police say that the incident occurred at 4:50 p.m. Wednesday, in front of a hotel near the intersection of Taylor and Post Streets.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, a man who looked to be in his 60s had parked his vehicle in a loading zone in front of the hotel. That's when a 53-year-old woman who worked at the hotel approached the vehicle, asking the driver to "move along."

Instead of hitting the road, the man exited his car and headed toward the woman, who used her cell phone to photograph the driver as he advanced toward her.

The man grabbed her cell phone, but couldn't wrest it from his victim's grasp, even when he punched her in the stomach, police say.

Cell phone-less, the suspect ran back to his car and fled east on Polk Street.

The woman wasn't seriously injured in the attack, police say. The suspect remains at large as of publication time, and the SFPD confirms that no arrests have been made in the case.

Related: Double Parking Spurs Road-Rage Attack In Marina

A violent musician was arrested late Monday, following an odd Chinatown attack.

Officers with the San Francisco Police Department were called the 1000 block of rant Avenue, which is between Jackson Street and Pacific Avenue, at 9:55 p.m. Monday.

When they arrived, they heard a strange tale: a 56-year-old man had apparently beaten a 50-year-old man with a guitar as they stood outside a building.

The victim was left with lacerations from the instrument attack, and was transported to an area hospital for injuries police say are not life-threatening.

The suspect was arrested at the scene, police say, and faces charges of aggravated assault in the incident.

Related: Tenderloin Ukulele Player Beaten With Hammer

A thrown cigarette was the catalyst in a Market Street confrontation that sent a man to the hospital Monday evening.

It was 6:44 p.m. Monday, near the intersection of Market and Jones Streets. A 52-year-old man sat at the Muni stop, waiting for the bus.

Suddenly, police say, "someone threw a cigarette to him." When the man tried to deflect the thrown butt, his movement "accidentally hit" a nearby man in his 20s, according to the San Francisco Police Department report on the incident.

The man who was hit appeared to be in his 20s, police say. He did not take kindly to the bumping, and threw the older man "into the side of a stationary bus, causing injury."

The victim was transported to an area hospital for treatment of injuries police say are not life-threatening. His assailants fled on foot, according to the SFPD, and were last seen headed west on Market Street.