san francisco
Police arrest gallerist who sprayed homeless woman with hose
Homeless woman tried unsuccessfully to protest spraying outside San Francisco gallery (screenshot)
© Twitter / @briochesf
The disturbing images of a gallery owner spraying a homeless woman with a hose went around the world. Now the man has been arrested.
An ugly scene erupted in San Francisco earlier this year. A woman sitting on the ground was sprayed with water by an angry man in freezing temperatures. Now the police have arrested the 71-year-old gallery owner Collier G. because of this.
A video from the day shows the incident: the woman is sitting there on the sidewalk trying to ward off the jet of water. Finally, G. stops the action and yells “Hey, get out. Get out, get out, get out.”
According to the “Los Angeles Times”, it was not the sprayed woman herself who reported G., but the authorities intervened on their own. After the incident, the woman was taken to a hospital. However, nothing was initially known about her condition after the water attack.
San Francisco gallery owner faces up to six months in prison
In an interview with the “San Francisco Chronicle”, G. admitted to having sprayed the woman with water. In the interview, he said she knocked over garbage cans in front of his gallery. She also became “aggressive” and began to spit. G. states that he had even let the woman spend the night in the entrance area of his gallery several times before.
Aaron Peskin is a representative on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors responsible for the area around Jackson Square – the scene of the action. As the person responsible for local citizen affairs, he described the incident as an “unscrupulous attack”. He tweeted: “My office is well acquainted with the victim and has been trying to organize support for the woman for many months.”
If convicted, G. faces up to six months in prison and a $2,000 fine.
Sources: “Los Angeles Times”, “San Francisco Cronicle”