Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
SF Businessman Who Sprayed Homeless Woman With Hose is Arrested
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 2 years ago on
January 19, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A San Francisco art gallery owner who was recorded on video spraying a homeless woman with a water hose earlier this month was arrested Wednesday and charged with misdemeanor battery, authorities said.

Collier Gwin, the owner of Foster Gwin Gallery, was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

“The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our community is completely unacceptable. Mr. Gwin will face appropriate consequences for his actions,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said on Twitter.

If convicted, Gwin could face up to six months in county jail and a $2,000 fine.

A voice mailbox for Foster Gwin Gallery was full and not able to take phone messages Wednesday. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Gwin had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Gwin was seen on cellphone video recorded Jan. 9 blasting water from a garden hose at a homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk outside the gallery in the upscale Jackson Square neighborhood.

The video shared on social media elicited shock and condemnation. The owners of Barbarossa Lounge, a neighboring business seen in the video, released a statement denouncing Gwin’s behavior, calling it “inhumane.”

Gwin apologized Sunday in a video statement obtained by ABC 7.

“I’m deeply apologetic,” he said. “I completely broke.”

In an interview Jan. 10 with the San Francisco Chronicle, he admitted he sprayed the woman after an encounter during which, he said, she turned over garbage cans outside his gallery and refused to move.

“She starts screaming belligerent things, spitting, yelling at me,” Gwin said. “At that point she was so out of control. … I spray her with the hose and say move, move. I will help you.”

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Jackson Square, called Gwin’s actions “unconscionable, it’s abuse.”

“I don’t care how frustrated somebody is, this is not the way human beings treat other human beings,” Peskin told the Chronicle.

Peskin said his office has tried to help the woman, who is known in the neighborhood.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

California Opens Investigation Into State Farm

Caitlin Clark Returns and Leads Fever to Upset Win Over Unbeaten Liberty

7 hours ago

Iran Fires Another Round of Missiles at Israel, and Explosions Are Heard in Tehran

7 hours ago

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

JERUSALEM/DUBAI (Reuters) -Israel pounded Iran for a second day on Saturday and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its campaign would in...

7 hours ago

7 hours ago

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

7 hours ago

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

7 hours ago

Authorities Still Searching for Suspect in Shooting of 2 Minnesota State Lawmakers

7 hours ago

Caitlin Clark Returns and Leads Fever to Upset Win Over Unbeaten Liberty

7 hours ago

Iran Fires Another Round of Missiles at Israel, and Explosions Are Heard in Tehran

9 hours ago

Stephen Miller’s Former High School Classmate Challenges His Deportation Policies

9 hours ago

‘We Will Kill You Dead’: Florida Sheriff’s Stark Warning to Demonstrators

9 hours ago

Trump Says ‘War in Israel-Iran Should End’

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend