Watch: Bystanders Jump In to Help Cop Attacked by Man in San Francisco
An attack against a San Francisco police officer brought perfect strangers together to aid her, put her attacker behind bars and shatter leftist narratives — all in a day’s work.
The incident began Friday when an unidentified Asian-American officer confronted a suspect after getting a call that he was causing a disturbance on the streets of the city’s Chinatown section, KPIX-TV reported.
According to law enforcement, the same 911 caller who reported the homeless man that day had also reported him the previous day because the man was heard saying, “I specialize in killing Asian people.”
Surveillance cameras caught what happened after the officer ordered the suspect — identified as 33-year-old Geraldo Contreras — to turn his back to her and place his hands on his head, a command with which he complied — at first.
But as the officer got close enough to cuff him, the suspect turned toward her, grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her to the ground with his own body on top of her, pinning her to the pavement.
The officer’s “less-lethal weapon” was sandwiched uselessly between them as the man, who was considerably larger than the officer, remained on top of her, grabbing her hair and attempting to knock her head into the concrete.
It was at that point that one by one, four male bystanders came to her rescue in an attempt to pull the suspect off of her until backup officers finally arrived to take the suspect to jail.
One of the men who helped was Andy Min, who was waiting outside for a table at the R & G Lounge nearby when he witnessed the scuffle and felt the need to help.
“Just like a human being being attacked, and also it’s like a police officer, civil servant, and third it looked like there was a weapon,” Min told KPIX.
“I couldn’t tell, but I saw it hit the ground, so I didn’t know if it was in control or not, but just felt like something needed to happen,” he said.
“There was a point where he had tackled her and I was like, OK, this isn’t going on — or this isn’t going right, and just kind of jumped in,” Min explained.
Contreras faces charges of resisting arrest, false imprisonment and assault on a peace officer and might be subject to further penalties if slapped with a hate crime.
There’s no telling what would have happened if these men did not intervene as it eventually took several male officers to subdue the suspect — but the female officer never should have been in this situation in the first place.
“We’ve seen a rise in violent attacks by homeless individuals, including attacks on police officers,” the San Francisco Police Officers Association tweeted along with the footage of the incident.
“We are deeply grateful to these citizens who rushed to our officer’s aide,” it continued.
“Our staffing shortage left this officer working alone instead of with a partner.”
We’ve seen a rise in violent attacks by homeless individuals, including attacks on police officers. We are deeply grateful to these citizens who rushed to our officer’s aide. Our staffing shortage left this officer working alone instead of with a partner. pic.twitter.com/f9RfkU6NCc
— San Francisco POA (@SanFranciscoPOA) May 31, 2021
It’s an encouraging sign that these men were willing to help a police officer in trouble, crushing the media narrative of widespread anti-police sentiment.
This incident also spotlights the anti-Asian bias that is driving many attacks, which the media blame on white supremacy despite evidence that the aggressors are often people of color.
What’s clear is that these media-perpetuated agendas either don’t exist among real, everyday Americans or are simply set aside when they see a fellow person in trouble.
Still, the real impact of such pervasive unchallenged narratives has imperiled residents and law enforcement officers alike.
Tony Montoya, the SFPOA’s president, said he was “very concerned” about the situation unfolding on San Francisco’s streets and blamed the city’s “criminal-first agenda” for making it a more dangerous place.
“If it’s not safe for the police officers right now, what should the general public feel?” he told Fox News.
“You have hastily and poorly written legislation that is causing people to leave the profession early, not want to enter the profession,” Montoya said about the shortage of police officers.
“There’s a lot of media coverage, especially more so this past year on law enforcement, and people are saying, ‘I don’t want to subject myself to that type of scrutiny,’ or family members are discouraging them from applying,” he said.
Mayor London Breed is looking to augment the force by at least a third in here new budget proposal, which would bring the number of full-time officers patrolling the streets from its current level around 950 up to 1,224, but that may prove to be a substantial challenge.
The media’s anti-police sentiment is contributing to resignations in the force in addition to the usual transfers and retirements — but more than that, Montoya blames the low morale on the revolving door policy for criminals.
“If you look at the policy of our current district attorney’s criminal-first agenda, there’s a very high likelihood that this person will get released before facing any consequences for his actions. You see that day in and day out here in San Francisco,” Montoya said.
It would logically follow that officers who are struggling and working alone would be hesitant to risk their lives to confront a suspect who would likely end up on the streets again anyway.
It’s a testament to officers’ dedication that so many are still dedicated to their jobs under such conditions.
But while this incident proves that many regular people respect police officers and spring into action when they see a cop in trouble, the left’s narratives clearly have real-world consequences.
The loud insistence on these radical points about law enforcement drive policy, and policy drives reality until every city is turned into a dystopian nightmare where criminals roam freely and fewer police officers are around to do anything about it.
Like most causes the left champions, it’s clear that only a slim minority of people support anti-police sentiment and leniency for criminals — but they’re working overtime on imposing this rot on the rest of us anyway.
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