SFPD Crisis Negotiators Work to Bring Man in From the Edge of the Bay Bridge

On September 7, 2016 at 10:44 PM, San Francisco Police officers from Southern Station responded to the area of Main Street and Howard regarding an assault. When they arrived, the involved parties had left the scene. Officers interviewed a witness who described an assault of an adult female by an adult male. The witness told the officers that, during a verbal argument, the male suspect assaulted the female victim. The witness and other bystanders pulled the suspect off of the victim. The victim boarded a Muni bus and the suspect fled southbound on Main Street. The officers located the victim on a Muni bus at Mission and Fremont Street where they interviewed her, noticed a bite mark on her arm and summoned an ambulance. The victim, a 21 year-old San Francisco resident told the officers that the suspect (21 year-old, San Francisco resident) was her acquaintance. During the assault, the suspect apparently bit the victim. Several people pulled the suspect off of her and she fled the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment. A short time later, a dispatcher at the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (DEM) notified SFPD officers that a man matching the suspect's description was reportedly walking eastbound on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge. The California Highway Patrol requested SFPD assistance and arriving SFPD officers learned that the suspect had resisted arrest and climbed over the railing of the bridge onto a catwalk. After climbing onto the catwalk, he produced a knife, held it to his own neck and made a statement that he wanted to die.   The SFPD Crisis - Hostage Negation Team (CHNT) was summoned to the scene. After many hours of negotiation, the CHNT members convinced the suspect to surrender. At 5:26 AM, he climbed back onto the roadway of the Bay Bridge where he was taken into custody and subsequently admitted to a local hospital for evaluation. Through the course of their investigation, SFPD officers determined that this man was the suspect from the earlier assault on Main and Howard Street. Upon discharge from the hospital, he is expected to be booked into San Francisco County Jail for aggravated assault and false imprisonment. The suspect’s name and booking photo cannot be released until he has been booked into County Jail. This incident represents the 64th such call out for the SFPD Crisis Hostage Negotiation Team this year. The team, comprised of 38 members who are assigned to various units within the Police Department, responded to 50 calls in 2015.