Justice went full frontal in the Castro last week when two nudists took down a man attacking a tourist on the street.
The naked samaritans—Pete Sferra of San Jose and Lloyd Fishback of San Francisco—were letting it all hang out on a July 2 stroll through the neighborhood when they spotted a “crazy kind of pirate guy” threatening a man with a blowtorch.
A video from the scene shows an onlooker snag the blowtorch just before the attacker starts to punch the tourist. Petros Fanourgiakis, owner of the nearby Aegean Delights, said the attacker threatened to burn the tourist’s face.
“My buddy Lloyd is a quiet, respectful guy,” Sferra said. “But he didn’t waste any time and nailed the guy with a right hook.”
Fishback followed up the punch with an underhand smack to the face, after which the attacker walked away.
Shirts 0; skins 1.
Sferra, who emphasized that Fishback is the hero, said he and at least two other people called the police as the incident unfolded. Fishback declined to comment for this story as the nudist values his privacy.
A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department identified the suspect as 38-year-old Zero Triball. He’s suspected of assault with a deadly weapon and remains in county jail, according to official records.
Nearby business owners said Triball has a history of causing problems in the Castro.
“He’s a known problem in the neighborhood,” said Terry Asten Bennett, president of the Castro Merchants Association. “He’s erratic and violent.”
Bennett said Triball entered her store Cliffs Variety several years ago and began shouting at employees and throwing merchandise at them. She added that the nearby Castro Country Club obtained a restraining order against Triball in March 2021 but opted not to renew it because it was too costly.
Brandon Stanton, manager of the Castro Country Club, said Triball threatened to burn down the building and kill the club’s executive director when they offered him support services. The club is a sober community center.
“It’s completely unfair to a community when one person can hold it hostage,” Bennett said.
Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the Castro, said business owners have every right to be frustrated that Triball continues to menace the neighborhood.
“In my view, he’s a guy who’ll continue committing medium violent crimes,” Mandelman said. “I don’t think he should be left to manage his own life. He should be in a conservatorship.”
Mandelman added that he previously asked a judge to keep Triball in custody and that he has pushed to expand conservatorship authority.
“Our system is crazy,” he said.
The tourist who was attacked in the video has not yet been identified but is believed to be a Brazilian man named Leo, according to Sferra.
“I hate seeing tourists experience that kind of stuff,” Sferra said, adding that he wants to normalize nudity in the famously LGBTQ+ neighborhood but has been met with pushback.
“Over the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve tried to show the neighborhood that we’re regular people—we just have a relaxed idea of what we’re supposed to wear,” he said. “We just want to be seen as good contributing members of the community.”