A San Francisco man is at the center of controversy after viral footage showed him spraying water on an unhoused woman near his business.
“This is horrible,” one Twitter user who shared the footagewrote. “This awful man is spraying a homeless woman down with a hose. You can hear her yell, ‘Help Me!’ Does anyone recognize him? … This is inhumane and inexcusable.”
“The whole neighborhood is a part of this situation,” Gwin told the news station. “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 woman who is psychotic.”
“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 added. “They will take her to the hospital, they will release her within a day.”
In the moments before the video was filmed, Gwin said he tried to help her move her belongings down the street and sprayed her with water when she refused.
“I totally understand what an awful thing that is to do, but I also understand what an awful thing it is to leave her on the streets,” he told the outlet.
“This woman is a very, very sad situation,” he continued. “She’s very psychotic.”
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While speaking toCBS News, Gwin doubled down on his apology, saying, “I’m very, very sorry, I’m not going to defend myself, I’m not going to because I can’t defend that.”
“I said she needs psychiatric help,” he explained, adding that he and other business owners have frequently called the police in recent weeks. “You can tell, she’s pulling her hair, she’s screaming, she’s talking in tongues, you can’t understand anything she says, she’s throwing food everywhere.”
“I’m out there once again cleaning her mess,” Gwin continued. “Washing it down, trying to clean up stuff, and I just snapped. I was watering around her, and I just snapped, when she went off in her belligerent tongues and stuff. And I just snapped, and I pulled the hose up higher, and I sprayed her.”
In a statement to CBS affiliate KPIX, San Francisco police said both parties declined further police action, and the “San Francisco Street Crisis Response Team responded to the scene and provided multiple service options” to the woman.
source: people.com
