Collier Gwin, the owner of the gallery shown on camera spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose because, according to him, she wouldn’t leave the sidewalk he was cleaning, was detained by San Francisco police on Wednesday.
On Jan. 9, District Attorney Jenkins said that Gwin would be charged with misdemeanor battery “for the alleged purposeful and unlawful spraying of water on and around a woman experiencing homelessness” after reviewing the San Francisco Police Department’s supporting documentation.
Jenkins stated, “The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our society is wholly unacceptable. “Mr. Gwin will experience justifiable repercussions for his behavior.”
The San Francisco District Attorney's office has issued an arrest warrant for Collier Gwin
He is being "charged with misdemeanor battery for the alleged intentional & unlawful spraying of water on & around a woman experiencing homelessness" pic.twitter.com/7A4Jrd66E7
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) January 19, 2023
She continued by saying it was also “wrong and must stop” because the Foster Gwin Gallery had a door shattered and boarded up two days after the video went public.
Around 3:30 pm, Gwin was detained at or close to his gallery. Gwin may spend up to six months in county jail and pay a $2,000 fine if found guilty.
The woman, who goes by the moniker Q around here, was admitted to the hospital last week, but it wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday how she was doing.
Nearly a week after the incident, on Tuesday, Gwin expressed regret and pledged to make amends. He earlier stated that apologizing was “challenging” for him.
Collier Gwin was not there, according to the employee who answered the intercom at Foster Gwin Gallery around 4:30 on Wednesday. A sheet was covering the window from the inside of the newly installed gallery front window.
Strong opinions regarding the incident were expressed by business owners in the area, and several of them were surprised to learn that an arrest warrant had been issued. Most people opted not to comment.
One employee at a nearby company protested the arrest warrant, stating that while she sympathized with Gwin, she did not agree with his behavior in the video. She was acquainted with the unsheltered woman who, according to store owners, yelled and agitated the area.
The employee remarked, “He probably just broke. “Because she’s right outside his place,” he said.
A worker at a nearby clothing store named Filson, Chris C., said he believes the occurrence depicted in the video of Gwin spraying the woman is “not a unique incidence” but rather a fitting illustration of how San Franciscans deal with the city’s homeless population.
He chided the city for “not getting a handle on it,” saying that other companies in the neighborhood have experienced homelessness.
A day or so after the video became viral, he claimed to have seen the woman.
He claimed that firefighters and paramedics were surrounding her.
Hearing about the arrest warrant for Gwin, who he claimed had been “unrepentant” after the hosing until eventually apologizing, Alex Sakiyama, a local who also knew the woman, shrugged.
“You shouldn’t hose down people. Sakiyama remarked, “That sounds like plain sense.
Read Next:
