Via Flickr
By The Vanguard Staff
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Former SF Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani “instigated” an altercation with a homeless man – Garret Doty, whose charges should be dismissed, said the San Francisco Public Defender’s office Wednesday.
Doty, held in San Francisco County Jail, had his preliminary hearing delayed Wednesday after Carmignani didn’t come to court. The hearing was rescheduled for Thursday, April 27.
The PD Office, in a statement Wednesday, said it was provided “new evidence that the District Attorney’s office turned over to our office yesterday” that suggested Carmignani “instigated the altercation with Doty, and may be involved in a series of unsolved bear spray assaults and a robbery against unhoused people in the Cow Hollow and Marina neighborhoods.”
According to the public defender’s office, Doty was “approached by Marina District resident Carmignani on April 5. In a video of the April 5 confrontation, Carmignani is seen initially approaching Doty with pepper spray in hand. A third party witness told police that she heard Carmignani threaten to stab and kill Doty if he did not leave the area.”
The PD Office said, “evidence turned over by the prosecution includes information on eight separate incidents in which a man in the Cow Hollow and Marina Districts, who fits the physical description of Carmignani, approaches unhoused individuals — unprovoked — and sprays them with bear or pepper spray.”
The PD Office said “Another video was turned over of a separate incident from November 2021, where an assailant approaches a sleeping unhoused man and sprays him, taking extra steps to spray him intensely in the face. While the identity of the assailant has never been confirmed, the prosecution indicated that it may be Carmignani and therefore relevant or exculpatory to the prosecution of Doty.”
The PD Office said, according to evidence supplied by the DA Office, eight other reported incidents of an assailant bear-spraying unhoused individuals in the Cow Hollow and Marina Districts, includes:
- Nov. 6, 2021: Assailant bear sprayed an unhoused individual on Magnolia Street (the above video is of this incident). Victim was sleeping.
- October 13, 2022: An assailant bear sprayed an unhoused individual in the face at Webster and Union.
- October 24, 2022: An assailant bear sprayed two unhoused individuals who were sitting on a bench at Buchanan and Greenwich.
- Nov. 10, 2022: An assailant bear sprayed two unhoused individuals at Union and Fillmore; One of the victims had been sleeping.
- Nov. 11, 2022: An assailant bear sprayed an unhoused individual at Lombard and Pierce; Victim was sleeping in tent; assailant unzipped tent and bear sprayed into it and said, “Get out of my town.”
- Nov. 24, 2022: An assailant verbally threatened an unhoused individual on the 2100 block of Van Ness Ave. and bear sprayed him a few minutes later.
- Dec. 7, 2022: An assailant bear sprayed an unhoused individual in the face at Lombard and Broderick.
- Jan. 6, 2023: An assailant bear sprayed an unhoused man and woman, took the woman’s wallet, her cell phone and earrings and picked up and threw a dog belonging to one of the victims to the ground.
- April 5, 2023: Mr. Carmignani bear sprayed San Francisco Public Defender client Garret Doty near the intersection of Laguna and Magnolia street.
Doty should be immediately released from jail and any charges dropped in light of this new information coming to light. The person that should be thoroughly investigated is Carmignani for his alleged crimes against the unhoused.
The article never says what Doty is accused of? I think that would be relevant to the story.
Here’s what Doty is accused of and a fuller account of what happened:
https://nypost.com/2023/04/27/san-francisco-vagrant-who-hit-ex-fire-boss-with-crowbar-released-after-no-show-by-victim/
I still consider it Carmignani’s fault that the DA can’t successfully prosecute Doty since he continues to refuse to speak with the police and the DA or even show up for court proceedings. The defense has every right to cross examine Carmignani because he is the acccuser. If he refuses, the DA should drop the case for lack of sufficient evidence. Like almost all criminal cases there is 2 sides to this story, but you seem solely interested in Carmignani’s side. I am not surprised at all.
There are also the allegations of Carmignani spraying other unhoused people with bear spray.
Where in the heck did you get that from what I’ve posted here? Really, please explain how you came to that conclusion. I’m curious as to your reasoning.