Californians are getting more and more fed up with the state of their state as crime rises precipitously in some areas, such as San Francisco, from just a few years ago, and the state and municipal governments seem either unable or unwilling to deal with the issue and crack down on crime for the benefit of their residents.
That anger at crime and frustration with the government’s non-response to it came to the fore recently in San Francisco, where bystanders jumped in to detain a 35-year-old man accused of stabbing a 74-year-old man in an attempted car break-in incident. Instead of standing by and watching, the bystanders rushed to the rescue and detained the suspect.
The San Francisco Standard, reporting on the incident that occurred on Friday, December 15, noted that the police responded to an incident report shortly after 5:00 in the afternoon on that Friday, arriving in the location in the city’s Marina District after receiving a report of a stabbing.
Once there, they found that some of the witnesses to the incident were holding an individual on the ground and claiming that he was the one behind the stabbing. The officers then took that detained individual into their custody.
Afterward, speaking to witnesses and trying to learn about the situation, they found that the suspected stabber had been attempting to break into a parked car when the owner of the vehicle returned and, being frustrated with the situation, began a physical confrontation with the suspect.
The suspect then used a bladed object to stab the owner of the car, though the stab wound delivered was of a non-life-threatening nature and the injured car owner was able to chase the fleeing suspect down after the stabbing. That drew the attention of witnesses, who then helped him out and detained the stabbing suspect. The suspect is 36 and the victim is 74. Both men had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for their injuries.
The arrested individual, the San Francisco Standard reports, was later identified as Mohamad Jafaripour, who was subsequently arrested and booked into jail. He was booked both on an active warrant out of San Francisco and on a slew of other charges, including, suspicion of burglary, burglary involving a present victim, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, vandalism, petty theft and unlawful possession of tear gas.
This incident comes amidst a police response time crisis in the city. According to a recent report in The Daily Mail, the 911 dispatchers in the crime-ridden city were able to answer just 72 percent of 911 calls within 15 seconds during October, the worst result the Department of Emergency Management released in six years and well short of the department’s goal of 95 percent.
Commenting on the situation, one dispatcher said, “In 15 seconds I can start CPR instructions, get NARCAN administered, give choking instructions to a new mom or dad.” That dispatcher added, “I can prevent a suicidal person from harming themselves because I say their name and they no longer feel so alone.”
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