1 year ago
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A California antheral seen successful a viral video spraying a stateless pistillate with a plot hose has been arrested connected a charge of battery, authorities successful San Francisco said.
Collier Gwin, 71, an creation assemblage owner, was captured successful the video, taken connected 9 January, leaning connected a railing with his legs crossed arsenic helium directed a pitchy of h2o astatine the pistillate successful an effort to get her to determination on.
A clip of the incident, archetypal posted to Twitter, amassed millions of views aft being shared to TikTok and different sites. Advocates were angered by the “cruel and cold” abuse of a stateless person.
Gwin was taken into custody precocious connected Wednesday, San Francisco constabulary said successful a statement. He faces a situation word of up to six months and a good of $2,000 if convicted of misdemeanor battery.
The pistillate unfortunate did not privation to property charges, the San Francisco territory lawyer said, but prosecutors believed the video provided capable grounds to proceed.
In the video, the proprietor of the Foster Gwin assemblage successful the North Beach vicinity of the metropolis repeatedly shouts “Move!” astatine the woman, who is sitting connected the crushed adjacent to a trash instrumentality surrounded by blankets and different possessions.
She attempts to talk to him and raises her near limb to effort to artifact oregon redirect the h2o arsenic Gwin sprays it straight astatine her face.
Gwin was primitively unrepentant, telling the San Francisco Chronicle helium recovered it “hard to apologise” and portraying himself arsenic a champion of the stateless for his claimed “tremendous efforts” to get authorities to assistance the woman.
In an interview with ABC7 this week, anterior to his arrest, Gwin was much conciliatory.
“I cognize it’s precise hard to watch. I tin lone inquire others to possibly amended recognize my breaking point,” Gwin said. “This is simply a ample transverse to bear.”
The Chronicle has reported that the woman, known to stateless advocates arsenic Q, was taken to infirmary past week for chartless reasons.
Aaron Peskin, a Democratic San Francisco territory supervisor, said his bureau was “well acquainted” with the pistillate and moving to enactment her.
Since the incident, Gwin has closed the assemblage and taken down its online presence. The video prompted a rash of mediocre societal media reviews and a model was shattered successful an enactment of vandalism.
Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco territory attorney, said in a tweet her bureau would not tolerate the maltreatment of stateless people.
“The alleged artillery of an unhoused subordinate of our assemblage is wholly unacceptable,” she wrote. “Mr Gwin volition look due consequences for his actions.
“Likewise, the vandalism astatine Foster Gwin assemblage is besides wholly unacceptable and indispensable halt – 2 wrongs bash not marque a right.”
English (US)