Mission Mission

[via Stay Sick Turn Blue]

“SF Mission Protector” posted this video busting a local graffiti artist last night:

In all fairness, the dude knocks on the window twice to let the guy know that he’s gonna call the cops. But this kid just waves and carries on putting a bird on it (“it” being a wall in this case). The cops show up and grab him.

Who is this mysterious “SF Mission Protector”? Does anyone know any orphaned billionaire business owners around the ‘hood?

[via Uptown Almanac, Mission Loc@l]

The case of Richard Sprague’s homicide (whose body, under a yellow tarp, lies where it was found in the above image) on February 19th has a suspect in custody. According to Mission Local Roland Pouncy, who was arrested last month with an ATM card formerly belonging to the victim, is now an official suspect in the homicide. Police had initially been hesitant to refer to him as anything other than a person of interest in possession of stolen property.

We previously posted about the homicide here.

Reader Ryan P. reports:

Just came home to find 19th between Guerrero and Dolores completely shut down, as well as most of that segment of 18th. Ambulances, fire trucks and cop cars lined the street in front of Bi-Rite, with some kid on a stretcher with an oxygen mask. I talked to some girl who, choking back sobs, managed to tell me that someone got stabbed. I tried to console her but she was pretty traumatized. I walked up to some cops and was berated by one of them, but the other said they were dealing with a stabbing, and to go inside. It looks like it occurred on Oakwood, connecting 18th and 19th, right next to the Bi-Rite market.

[Photo by Jekka]

Earlier today, our own Ariel Dovas speculated as to the origins of Saturday night’s street fight. And commenters added bits and pieces to the tale. Now here we have a lengthy eyewitness account, from a reputable source who wishes to remain nameless:

Person X: i was at that bar fight
Sent at 10:30 AM on Tuesday
me: what happened!
Person X: it was all those skater kids from the mission
i can tell u the whooooooooooooooole story
and yes, someone actually came out of nowhere with a snowshovel and started attacking people
me: what started it? how many people were actually involved?
Sent at 10:34 AM on Tuesday
Person X: ok, so this one young party girl i always see around with the skater dudes
at then end of the night when they were kicking people out
starts yelling i nthe bar at some taller random creepy guy
trying to push him and was saying he was touching all of her friends and herself’s private parts
and she supposedly told the staff at the bar to kick him out earlier and they didnt
Sent at 10:37 AM on Tuesday
me: dang
Sent at 10:39 AM on Tuesday
Person X: so they all go outside and start fighting the dude
cuz the girl is all hooting and hollering that he touched her coochie
and u know those crazy 20 yr old skater kids who r just looking for any excuse to fight
well the girl starts fighting the guy
i look over and the dudes jump in the middle of it as the guy is holding a huge bottle to her neck
Sent at 10:52 AM on Tuesday
me: wow
i gotta run out, but feel free to keep telling the story
Sent at 10:55 AM on Tuesday
Person X: next thing u know everyone is punching everyone and some short hispanic looking kid with curly hair comes running from across the street to where everyone is in front of gestalt and starts hitting people
Sent at 11:00 AM on Tuesday
Person X: thank god it was a snow shovel because if it was a real shovel there could be a lot of dead people right now
anyways
Sent at 11:01 AM on Tuesday
Person X: i run down the block for safety and people are coming up to to other people over there swinging and suckerpunching people left and irght
i heard a window shatter cuz people were through big glass bottles (which they must have got out of the trash outside on the street) at the window of gestalt
the fight kinda disperses into segments
a group in front of gestalt
a group across the street
and then a group walking down the street toward mission
Sent at 11:04 AM on Tuesday
Person X: at that point the cops roll up and i see the dude with the shovel running down the block so i point them at him cuz he was sketchy as fuck
tha dude is trying to pumch people down the block still
we are leaving and all these ambulances come to that corner with the sketchy guy went
after we left people are saying they “hear” people saying someoneone “got stabbed in the head”
now that seems kinda crazy, but then again it is the mission so…………………..
and i dont know anything else than that
i tried looking up police reports online but couldnt find anything

[file photo by Ariel Dovas]

[file photo by me]

According to SFWeekly, late Saturday night/early Sunday morning police responded to multiple calls involving an 80-200 person bar fight near 16th and Albion. When the officers arrived on scene, within minutes, the fight was nowhere to be found. Not a trace.

[file photo by me]

Here are some possible explanations for such an occurrence:

• Ghosts – the people who were fighting were actually ghosts and they disappeared.

• Fighting Runners – people who fight as they run; everybody was running away from and/or into the fight at the same time and at the same speed such that the fight remained relatively static while moving through space.

• West Side Story Brawl – the patrons from Monk’s Kettle and the boozers from The Kilowatt exited their respective establishments at the same moment, leading to a Sharks v. Jets style face off. Just as they began snapping at each other menacingly, the coppers were called and a little kid in a newsboy’s cap ran out into the middle of the street yelling “Scatter, it’s Officer Krupke!” The two crowds quickly dispersed into cabs and alleyways.

So, one of those three things happened.

UPDATE: Somehow a plausible fourth option is being suggested in the comments: an actual fight that originated inside Gestalt, involving a man swinging a shovel at multiple people. Sounds pretty crazy. I’d get the hell out of there in a hurry too.

The Ferocious Few, everybody’s favorite rock ‘n’ roll buskers, just had everything in the world taken from them, and right before they were about to head to Austin for SXSW. Frontman Francisco tells the tale:

The incident occured on Saturday February 25th between 5-7 pm. My girlfriend and I had gone to a Noise Pop Happy hour at Bender’s Bar to support a local band called Hot Fog, and meet with some friends. I had just returned from Haight st. where we had been kicked off the stoop of a friend’s house by SFPD for playing music for passersby on that beautiful sunny day. I had parked my car outside of an apartment building at 772 South Van Ness at about 5:15. We left Bender’s shortly thereafter only to find that my red 1995 Nissan Pathfinder, license plate 3SNY839 was gone.

I called all the tow companies, no sign of it. I continued calling them every day and I still try.

I called the cops. I filed a report, they said no sign of it. They kept me waiting at the scene of the crime (in one of the most heavily policed areas in the entire city) for so long I felt compelled to go into the station myself. They said an inspector would be put on the case by this past Monday. They said that there was a good chance the car would turn up…but obviously everything else would be gone.

Everything I own, give or take a sock or two, was stolen that day. There were 3 guitars worth a total 7k in there! Worth way more to me than the money. One of them, a brand new Gibson I had just spent months transforming into the most ferocious music making machine. All my busking equipment, batteries, cables, amps, my clothes, my book collection, everything I need to do my job basically, and the car, GONE.

If you’d like to help out, keep your eyes peeled — but also there’s a benefit show this Sunday at the Rock Loft in North Beach. RSVP and invite your friends!

Mission Local has more on the story.

Officer Albie Esparza said today that 42-year-old Roland Pouncy, a San Francisco resident, was arrested Sunday on one count of possession of stolen property [the victim's ATM card]. Esparza said that the man has not been arrested in connection with Sprague’s death.

As an update to my post from yesterday, homicide detectives just came to my door to ask if I had any information about the homicide that apparently happened around 2:30 AM Sunday morning. A man was beaten to death and was calling for help, but nobody came to his rescue. 

If you know anything about it, the SFPD flyer has the following information:

On Sunday morning 02/19/12, sometime between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. a man was robbed and then murdered in front of 125 Jullian, [sic] between 15th st, and 16th st . We ask anyone in the area of this street and the blocks surrounding it who saw or heard anything to contact S.F.P.D. YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS: TIP LINE 415-575-4444

Anyone with information regarding the circumstances surrounding this incident is asked to call Inspector John Cagney of the SFPD Homicide Detail direct at (415) 734-3181 or during business hours (415) 553-1145 (Weekdays from 9AM-5PM) you can also call after hours the SFPD Operations Center at (415) 553-1071, or the anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444

Refer to Case #: 120139612

UPDATE: Mission Local has more about the stabbing death and the people who heard the victim’s cries for help and did nothing. It’s a complicated scenario, when people become used to walking past others in various forms of distress at all hours of the day. A commenter on ML brings up the famous Kitty Genovese case, which this obviously resembles. A man is beaten and stabbed, cries out for someone to call the police, and dies a slow death on a heavily trafficked sidewalk, where his body remains for maybe nine hours.

I’ve lived in the Mission for a long time and seen a lot of people in pain. It’s often not clear if there is anything I could do to help them. I’ve intervened a few times, and I’d like to think when I specifically hear the words “help” or “police” I’d take action. But at the same time, there’s so much drama every day. Two weeks ago on Capp Street a man was yelling at the top of his lungs for someone to call the cops. When I ran outside I found two men who knew each other and were arguing over something petty. They both seemed like they were high, and neither seemed to be in any danger. I was pissed that they tried to involve me in their dispute and yelled at them and they dispersed. Nevertheless, the fact is that one man was calling for help for probably five minutes before I got out there and nobody did anything.

It’s very sad that this man wasn’t able to be saved, and the reasons why, no matter what anyone says, are very complicated.

UPDATE 2: Mission Local now reports that the cause of death is now unknown. He has been identified as Richard Sprague, 47 of San Francisco.

From a tip by reader Jewel D. I checked out the block of Julian Ave. between 16th and 15th, which is blocked off to cars at this moment. (9:45 am Sunday) The police have a small area taped off to pedestrians as well on the East side of the street near 15th. It appears to me that there is a human on the ground under a yellow tarp*, but it could be something else. The police didn’t seem to be on edge, they were just standing around talking.

Reverend Bertie Pearson told me that all the cops would say was that someone was assaulted. A few of the cops went in and out of an apartment building there, but I didn’t see anyone who looked like a civilian involved out on the street.

More as it comes in.

*Seen in the above photo between the truck and bicycle.

UPDATE: Still blocked off an hour later and the Medical Examiner is on the scene.