On Monday morning, a viral video began circulating of a man in San Francisco hosing down a woman sitting on the ground in front of Barbarossa Lounge on Montgomery Street. With a hose in hand, the man starts spraying her directly in the face as she shouts and tries to shield her body from the oncoming blasts of water in the video.
The footage drew outrage, with many appalled by the treatment of someone who appears to be homeless. But the man with the hose, Collier Gwin, told SFGATE he’d do it again.
“In that situation, the street was being washed and she refused to move. She started screaming profanities, and becoming very belligerent,” Gwin, who owns an art gallery next to Barbarossa Lounge and is not affiliated with the popular bar, told SFGATE. “… and at that point, the cleaning on the street was directed more in front of her.”
Gwin said that the woman has been in front of his building and adjacent businesses for almost two weeks. He added that he has called the San Francisco Police Department up to 25 times seeking assistance, and that the person was told by officers from the San Francisco Police Department that morning that she needed to move.
In a statement to SFGATE, SFPD said that officers responded to the hosing incident Monday as a “possible assault,” but both Gwin and the woman “declined further police action at that time.” SFPD said that a police report has been filed, and that the San Francisco Street Crisis Response Team “provided multiple service options” to the woman.
The San Francisco Public Works department did not respond in time for publication, and SFPD did not immediately respond to a follow-up question on whether officers had told the woman to move during the street cleaning.
Barbarossa Lounge’s owner, Arash Ghanadan, said he found out about the now-viral video by people tagging his business in the comments, thinking that he was involved.
“Unfortunately, this incident happened in front of our business and people are assuming that the person was affiliated with us. That’s not true,” Ghanadan said.
He added that he and other business owners have called both SFPD and social services to try to get assistance for the woman, who has sometimes blocked the entrances of local businesses, but nothing has changed. He said just last Friday, six to seven police vehicles responded to incidents in the neighborhood directly related to her actions.
The San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) told SFGATE in an email that it cannot comment on specific cases, but in general, “for individuals who are not ready to accept the services HSH has to offer, [the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team] continues to outreach and build motivation to ensure services are available when they are needed.”
Still, Ghanadan condemned Gwin taking matters into his own hands.
“I do want people to know that definitely what you see on the video is not the appropriate way to handle it,” he said. “We certainly condemn that.”
When asked if he would have made different choices since the video surfaced, Gwin doubled down.
“Nobody can get into their stores or into their offices. And so consequently, you know, if she got wet when that was happening, it was because she was there getting wet,” he said. “She did not move when she was told by the police, by the paramedics, by the social services that she needed to move.”
On Monday evening, Barbarossa Lounge released a statement on its Instagram page due to the flood of messages it received associating the venue with the incident. Ghanadan told SFGATE he’s frustrated by the fact that the woman hasn’t received assistance, and was adamant that Gwin spraying her was not the way to handle the situation.
“As a business owner in San Francisco, we’ve done everything we could,” he said.
Several onlookers are enraged.
“This attack during the midst of life threatening weather changes and less than adequate shelter resources was cold and callous to say the least,” said Tyler Kyser, policy director at the Coalition on Homelessness. “Staying dry is the most important thing people have to do to avoid hypothermia when they are living outside on the streets so this attack is beyond being anti homeless and is a direct attack on this woman’s life. Violent acts committed by housed folks against our unhoused neighbors needs to stop and we hope that this woman who was attacked is able to get respite and justice in addition to a true exit from homelessness.”
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