A business owner who went viral after he was filmed spraying down a homeless woman with a hose in front of his San Francisco store has been arrested for battery, hours after the city’s DA said he would face charges for the widely seen incident.
Collier Gwin, the owner of Foster Gwin art gallery, is presently being held on a misdemeanour charge arising from the January 9 altercation, police said following his arrest.
Earlier in the day, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office issued a statement revealing that a warrant for Collier Gwin’s arrest had been issued, following pronounced public uproar over the footage, which was filmed on a day when temperatures hit 49 degrees.
The video posted on social media prompted sleuths to search for and successfully identify the gallery proprietor, and served as enough proof to charge Gwin, officials said following his arrest.
If convicted of the crime, Gwin could face up to six months in county jail, as well as a $2,000 fine.
San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins said, referencing footage that showed the store’s owner casually soaking the unidentified woman with a stream of water.
DA Brooke Jenkins went on to reveal that the victim didn’t seek to file charges against the store proprietor, who stood by his actions in interviews with various news outlets in recent days, saying that when he asked the woman to move, she became aggressive and refused.
Nevertheless, DA Brooke Jenkins said that Mr Gwin would face appropriate consequences for his actions.
The state prosecutor, who’s come under fire for soft-on crime policies in a city experiencing crime and homeless rates not seen since the 90s, went on to chastise citizens who have damaged Gwin’s store, which had its door smashed in footage disseminated across social media.
The DA noted, before telling citizens in the homeless encampment-filled city that the vandalism at Foster Gwin gallery was also totally inappropriate and must stop and that two wrongs didn’t make a right.
Records reveal that Gwin was arrested around 3.30 pm at or near his gallery and that in recent days, armchair sleuths zeroed in on the store owner, but Gwin made it clear he wasn’t hiding from anyone.
But even after giving explanations to outlets including The San Francisco Chronicle and ABC 7, other local businesses criticised his actions, while scores of furious social media users left terrible reviews online, causing the gallery’s rating on Google to fall to only one star.
We have no idea of this woman’s situation, and it’s never okay to attack another person, especially unprovoked, and there are better ways of dealing with frustration than soaking this poor woman.
It’s understandable that Gwin wanted this woman to go because he believed that she was lowering the tone of his store, but where’s his humanity? He could have just as easily brought her into the shop, let her have a wash, cleaned her up and given her a job so that she could get on her feet again – it takes nothing to be kind.
But instead, this man soaked a homeless old lady because she couldn’t afford a home – does that mean she’s no longer human? What if it was his mother or grandmother, would he still have the same mindset? No wonder some animals eat their young!
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 