There was heavy police presence on Cedar Street, an alley on the edge of the Tenderloin, following Thursday’s violent scuffle involving SF Mayor Daniel Lurie’s security detail, with two additional arrests Friday, and neighborhood advocates worry about potential overreach.

As Mission Local reports, police officers conducted a major sweep on Cedar Street near Jane Cafe in Lower Nob Hill Friday, following the scuffle that occurred Thursday between San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s bodyguard and 44-year-old Tony Shervaughn Phillips, who was reportedly blocking the mayor’s SUV, along with multiple others.

As SFist reports, a second video of the incident surfaced Friday that shows the bodyguard shoving Phillips into a pile of debris — while Lurie stood a few feet away — prior to the man pushing the bodyguard to the ground, resulting in an abrasion to the bodyguard’s head.

At least two people were reportedly arrested during Friday’s sweep, as seen in the below video footage by X user jj smith, per Mission Local.

While advocates had hoped the incident would help shed light on the need for improvement on Tenderloin streets, they emphasized to Mission Local that heavy policing does more harm than good without the support of crucial community-based programs, which have been drastically cut in recent months, per the SF Examiner and Mission Local.

“We just don’t want to be in this cycle of moving folks around. We want to find a pathway to getting people healthy,” a law enforcement source told Mission Local. “If you get people healthy, you just eliminate so many issues.”

Randy Shaw, executive director of the Tenderloin Housing Clinic, said the Tenderloin is largely ignored by the city when it comes to policies. “The Tenderloin needs a higher level of service than it is getting,” he told Mission Local. “That seems kind of obvious, but it hasn’t yet translated into a policy action.”

Shaw said the city’s neglect of the Tenderloin helps fuel MAGA rhetoric. Mission Local reports that both the New York Post and the account, Libs of TikTok, took the opportunity to mock Lurie for failing to step in during the scuffle.

The Chronicle spoke to Art Tilis, a local private investigator and former police officer, who says he considers Lurie’s habit of engaging with people on the street a security risk, especially when he's not willing to step in to help during conflict.

“I can’t believe he just walked away,” Tilis told the Chronicle. “All it takes is one other person to help put somebody on the ground.”

“You are not only putting yourself as mayor in harm’s way, you are also putting officers in harm’s way,” he added. “He shouldn’t be doing stuff like that if he doesn’t expect to help.”

Del Seymour, founder of the nonprofit Code Tenderloin, told Mission Local that people on Tenderloin streets are often dealing with addiction and mental health struggles, which makes their behavior unpredictable.

“You can’t be driving through the Tenderloin jumping out trying to be Mother Teresa,” Seymour told Mission Local. “You think you’re a celebrity being the mayor and you think everyone loves you, and most of us do, but there are people that don’t know who you are and you mean nothing to them.”

The mayor “has learned that now,” he added.

Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist