Police are guarding the Foster Gwin Gallery in the Financial District a day after a video of the business owner turning a hose on a homeless woman went viral.
Gallery owner Collier Gwin has since received a smashed front door and a deluge of one-star Google reviews in light of the incident—the business is now listed online as temporarily closed.
A manned SFPD patrol car now sits outside the beleaguered storefront. The police department has been contacted for comment.
In the wake of the ensuing rage, San Francisco police chief Bill Scott urged calm.
“What I ask is for civility, for people to take a step back and to call the police, call 311 or 911,” Scott said. “Let us come together and help settle disputes if you can’t settle them civilly, because the last thing we want is somebody to get hurt.”
A call on Twitter for a gathering outside of Gwin’s gallery did not materialize in the pouring rain on Wednesday afternoon.
Supervisor Aaron Peskin addressed the matter at a press conference Wednesday. “It is gut-wrenching and horrible to see anybody treating somebody who is destitute and desperate with such inhumanity,” Peskin said.
“It is important that our society and our government send a clear signal that people don’t get to take their frustrations and the law into their own hands,” he continued.
The newly elected Board of Supervisors president added that he hoped criminal charges would be filed against Gwin and an arrest made soon.
Gwin has not responded to The Standard for comment but told ABC 7 he acted out of frustration with the homelessness crisis in the city.