SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A man was arrested in downtown San Francisco Christmas night after being caught on video harassing a KPIX reporter Betty Yu’s crew, knocking a camera off a tripod and taking a swing at the cameraman.
The reporter tweeted video that captured part of the incident shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday evening outside the downtown shopping destination located at 4th and Mission Streets.
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Yu was conducting an interview with a family outside the Metreon in San Francisco Saturday night — doing a story on how some families were enjoying Christmas night in SF — when she heard a man heckling her and her interview subject. She said the man went on to take a swing at her photographer and knock the camera to the ground.
I was doing an interview outside the Metreon in SF tonight. I heard a man heckling us, before he swung at my photog. He knocked the camera to the ground. We’re okay, but rattled. @SFPD came and arrested the man for felony vandalism and misdemeanor battery @KPIXtv @chesaboudin pic.twitter.com/VSuY5AVbbT
— Betty Yu (@BettyKPIX) December 26, 2021
The video she shared, which had been shot by the husband of the woman Yu was interviewing on his cellphone, showed the cameraman picking up the camera from the pavement as the man continues to talk in an agitated fashion. Shouts and screams can be heard in video taken during the incident.
“We’re okay, but rattled,” Yu said in the tweet.
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She said that San Francisco police officers came and arrested the man for felony vandalism (due to the expense of the camera, which sustained damage) and misdemeanor battery. The video she posted jumps to footage of the man being handcuffed and sat down at a nearby bus shelter by officers.
One of the arresting officers told Yu that the same man had been caught trespassing at the Metreon Target store a day earlier.
The @SFPD officer said the same man was trespassing at Target at the Metreon just yesterday @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/3bwdj9fXOJ
— Betty Yu (@BettyKPIX) December 26, 2021
The incident comes as reporters and news crews remain on edge following last month’s fatal shooting of television crew security guard Kevin Nishita in Oakland as he attempted to stop a KRON news crew from being robbed at gunpoint.
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Police in Oakland announced the arrests of two suspects in connection with the Nishita slaying this past week and are still searching for a third suspect in the homicide.
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.