A downtown San Francisco artwork gallery proprietor was taken into custody Wednesday after mobile phone video confirmed him deliberately spraying a homeless girl with a hose, prompting outrage and condemnation.
An arrest warrant was issued for Collier Gwin Wednesday for misdemeanor battery, San Francisco District Attorney Brook Jenkins introduced in an announcement.
CBS San Francisco captured footage of Gwin being taken into custody Wednesday afternoon close to his gallery.
“The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our community is completely unacceptable. Mr. Gwin will face appropriate consequences for his actions,” Jenkins mentioned in her assertion.
The incident occurred on Jan. 9, in line with the DA’s workplace. The video, which was posted to social media, confirmed a person spraying a homeless girl with water for a number of seconds whereas she was mendacity on the sidewalk.
In an interview with CBS San Francisco final week, Gwin admitted to being the person within the video. Gwin is the proprietor of the Foster Gwin Gallery within the metropolis’s Financial District, in line with CBS San Francisco, and the incident occurred steps away from his gallery.
CBS San Francisco
“What they saw is very regrettable,” he advised CBS San Francisco final week. “I feel awful, not just because I want to get out of trouble, or something like that, but because I’d put a tremendous amount of effort into helping this woman.”
Speaking to reporters on Jan. 13, San Francisco Mayor London Breed mentioned the incident reminded her of how civil rights protesters have been handled within the Nineteen Sixties.
“When I saw it, all I can think about is what happened during the civil rights movement,” Breed mentioned. “This is sadly, at a time when African Americans were fighting for our rights to be considered equal in this country. Even at that time law enforcement and others used water hoses to stop protesters. And it just kind of takes us back, unfortunately, to that time. And no other human being should be able to do that to any other human being, period. As far as I’m concerned, it’s assault.”
If convicted as charged, Gwin faces a most sentence of six months in jail and a $2,000 nice, the DA’s workplace mentioned.
Since the video went viral, the sufferer has been receiving help from the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in line with CBS San Francisco.