A viral video showing a local business owner spraying an unhoused person with a garden hose was met with outrage in San Francisco.
Edson Galvez said he was making a delivery when one of his employees saw what was happening, pulled out a phone, and caught the stunning scene.
In the video that was first posted to TikTok, the man with the hose can be heard arguing with the unhoused man but you can’t make out the specifics.
Larry Maroney was working a construction job nearby and also saw what was happening.
"I see a guy hosing the (person) down and I thought it was not right,” he said. “So I went over to say, 'what's up?' because I was going to take the hose and spray him."
The man with the hose is Collier Gwin, owner of an antique shop and gallery.
The gallery was closed Tuesday, but NBC Bay Area was able to speak to him through the speaker in the door.
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Gwin claims he, and much of the neighborhood, actually knows the man in the video rather well.
“The whole neighborhood is a part of this situation,” he said. “The police force is a part of this situation. The city and the social services is a part of the situation. There have been repeated attempts to try to help this (person) who is psychotic.”
Gwin said he’s sympathetic to the person's situation and has called the police and city social services multiple times when, he says, he becomes disruptive.
“There’s absolutely nothing that can be done. They’ll take (him) to a shelter, and they will turn (him) out in two days,” said Gwin. “They will take (him) to the hospital, they will release (him) within a day.”
He didn’t say why he decided to spray the person with a hose.
Galvez, the man that posted the video, said he also knows the unhoused man because he owns a business nearby.
"OK, that (man) doesn't go inside the businesses,” he said. “(He) sleeps on the street, but (he's) very calm, yeah. I was putting quarters on the parking meter right now and (he) was passing by."
Maroney said he did confront Gwin for spraying the man.
"I can understand both parties,” he said. “I feel sorry for the tenant, I feel sorry for the (man). But the police had come out one time and he said there's nothing they can do."
The police went to the scene to try to talk to Gwin but officers said he didn’t answer.
They said it remains an open investigation and they would not comment on any possible charges.
Editor's Note: San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott clarified Wednesday night that the victim identifies as a man. An earlier version of this story referred to him as a woman.
