In a sweeping raid Wednesday night on a drug market in Jefferson Square Park, cops detained an independent San Francisco “street reporter” who caught the episode on video.
FriscoLive415 — who has more than 13,000 followers on X for his videos of addiction, drug dealing, and police enforcement in the Tenderloin and Mid-Market neighborhoods — was filming at the raid when a police officer approached him.
The footage shows the officer pushing and cuffing the internet personality, who repeatedly asks, “What did I do?” After being pushed, he drops his phone and yelps in pain.
But Mr. Live415, who declined to give his real name for privacy reasons, seemed unbothered by the incident when he spoke to The Standard by phone Thursday.
“I’m not unhappy in any way, shape, or form,” he said. “I was happy to see the aggressiveness of the raid.”
He said he was cuffed, sitting on a curb, for about an hour before police officers recognized him. He recalled one asking how he’d gotten mixed up in the raid. Shortly afterward, he was released.
“I felt like it was extra — I’ll say that,” he said. “But in every other interaction, SFPD is quite respectful.”
A San Francisco Police Department spokesperson said the agency does not confirm the identity of detainees.
There were almost 90 arrests, and 1.21 pounds of narcotics were seized, according to SFPD. One person was treated for an overdose, fire officials said.
Before FriscoLive415 was detained, he captured a police drone hovering over the park. His video shows police on dirt bikes approaching the park from the south while cruisers pull up on the north and south sides. Officers on foot shout, “Police! You’re under arrest! Stay inside the park.”
“Everyone is under arrest,” FriscoLive415 says in the video. “Hopefully not me.”
The video shows officers in riot helmets and a law enforcement surveillance van. Police walk cuffed detainees along a sidewalk and have them sit on a curb. When detainees ask why they’re being arrested, officers respond that it is because of loitering or because the park is closed at night.
While Mr. Live415 was seated on the curb, a man next to him began to cry and said, “This is so fucked up, man,” according to the footage.