San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s security team was suddenly forced into action Thursday evening when a confrontation erupted near the edge of the city’s notorious Tenderloin district — leaving one police officer bleeding from the head after a violent struggle in the street.
The incident unfolded just before 6 p.m. near Cedar and Polk streets, an area long associated with open-air drug activity and crime. Authorities say the mayor himself was not injured, but the situation quickly spiraled into chaos when several men allegedly blocked the mayor’s vehicle.
According to police accounts, Lurie had been riding in a black SUV with two members of his security detail — both San Francisco police officers — when three individuals stepped into the street and obstructed the vehicle.
The mayor reportedly exited the SUV and asked the group to move.
At first, the men appeared to comply. But the encounter quickly turned volatile.
One of the men began shouting incoherently and behaving erratically, an officer later told investigators. When the officer approached and ordered the man to move along, the suspect briefly backed away before suddenly charging toward him.
What followed was a brief but violent struggle.
During the scuffle, the officer attempted to grab the man’s upper body. Both men fell to the ground. The officer struck his head on the pavement during the fall and was left bleeding from the back of his head.
Witness video later showed the injured officer on the ground, breathing heavily as blood ran down his head.
Meanwhile, the mayor’s driver — also an officer — confronted another man involved in the incident. That officer did not appear to be injured, and authorities are still investigating whether the second man physically assaulted anyone.
Police quickly moved in to restrain the suspects.
One of the men, later identified as 44-year-old Tony Shervaughn Phillips, was handcuffed at the scene. As officers detained him, witnesses said he shouted profanities, repeatedly yelling, “F–k you!” while being placed under arrest.
A second suspect attempted to flee but was caught by officers nearby.
Within minutes, more than a dozen officers flooded the block, surrounding the suspects as they lay handcuffed on the pavement.
Phillips now faces multiple charges including assault on a police officer, threatening an executive officer, resisting arrest, petty theft, and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to San Francisco County Jail records.
The arrest also revived scrutiny over Phillips’ past run-ins with law enforcement.
In 2019, he was arrested on suspicion of murder after allegedly stabbing a man during a fight in the Polk Gulch neighborhood — just blocks from Thursday’s incident. Prosecutors ultimately declined to file charges in that case, citing insufficient evidence.
Thursday’s confrontation left two officers with injuries that police say were not life-threatening.
Mayor Lurie remained at the scene briefly following the arrest and appeared shaken by the ordeal before leaving the area.
“There was an altercation this evening involving the mayor’s security detail,” Lurie said afterward. “The mayor was not involved.”
City officials praised the officers who responded.
“We’re grateful the officers assigned to the mayor’s security detail acted swiftly and courageously to protect him in a dangerous and unpredictable situation,” said Louis Wong, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association. “We wish our injured officer a full and speedy recovery.”
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed officers responded to the disturbance around 5:38 p.m. and took two men into custody.
The confrontation has once again spotlighted safety concerns in the Tenderloin — a neighborhood that has become a symbol of the city’s ongoing struggles with drugs, homelessness, and violent crime.
For a brief moment Thursday evening, even the mayor’s own security team wasn’t immune to the chaos.
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This is what happens in lawless Dem cities