The man who sprayed a homeless person with a hose outside of his business in San Francisco was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery after a massive public outcry.
71-year-old Collier Gwin is seen in the video posted to TikTok arguing with the homeless person before using a water hose to spray the person on Jan. 9. He owns an antique gallery in the financial district.
Homeless advocates excoriated Gwin and demanded that law enforcement authorities charge the man in order to dissuade others from treating homeless people poorly. Jennifer Friedenbach, the executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, told KNTV-TV that the homeless person’s name is Q.
“We’re talking about black trans homeless person who also suffers from mental health issues,” she said.
On Wednesday, after nine days of outrage, Gwin was arrested and booked into the San Francisco County Jail on $2,500 bail.
He had previously defended his actions in an interview with KNTV by claiming that the homeless person was mentally ill and that police were unable to solve the problem.
“There’s absolutely nothing that can be done. They’ll take her to a shelter, and they will turn her out in two days,” he said at the time. “They will take her to the hospital. They will release her within a day.”
He also said that he had received threats over the video.
Some critics pointed their ire at the wrong business because the video showed the name of a restaurant called Barbarossa Lounge that sits next to Gwin’s studio. The owner of the lounge made it clear that they had nothing to do with the water incident.
District Attorney Brooke Jenkins commented about the charge against Gwin on Twitter.
“The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our community is completely unacceptable. Mr. Gwin will face appropriate consequences for his actions,” she tweeted.
“Likewise, the vandalism at Foster Gwin gallery is also completely unacceptable and must stop – two wrongs do not make a right,” she concluded.
Here’s more about the arrest of the business owner:
San Francisco Business Owner Arrested After Caught Spraying Unhoused Person With Hosewww.youtube.com
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