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Homeless man allegedly assaults case manager in SLO

March 3, 2023

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

San Luis Obispo police officers arrested a homeless man who allegedly assaulted a case manager at a SLO sports complex Friday afternoon.

The San Luis Obispo Fire Department’s Mobile Crisis Unit contacted a transient at the Damon-Garcia Sports Fields in order to provide services. During the interaction, the man became agitated and assaulted the crisis unit case manager, according to police.

Despite being assaulted, the case manager emerged from the incident uninjured, police said. 

After the assault, the suspect fled into the field between the sports complex and Tank Farm Road. Patrol officers arrived at the scene and used a drone to locate the man, who was hiding in the field.

Officers arrested the man for assault and battery.


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The homeless have been assaulting City workers for a long time. But the City sweeps it under the rug when a homeless person assaults a Parks Maintenance worker. It’s happened multiple times, and the City almost fired a Parks Maintenance worker who defended himself. The pro-homeless lobby is very powerful in SLO. I grew up in SLO and this nonsense never would have been tolerated in the old days. It will take a City worker, probably a Parks guy or gal, getting killed before HR and the Council will take it seriously. They are petrified that they might offend the pro-homeless lobby and they’ll burn their own people on the altar of political correctness.


6

Arrested but in jail?


6

This story sounds like it’s a little top heavy with spin. My suspicion is someone was using force to try to get the homeless man to do something he didn’t want to do (like accept crisis care management), and he took exception to it. I must question who assaulted whom? 


7

Should have sent more social workers to deal with the situation.


12

Just how expensive will these feel-good ideas cost the taxpayers on a annual basis? Instead of having the mentally ill, drug addicts, and criminals in an institution where they could get real help. The Mobile Crisis Unit is managed by the San Luis Obispo Fire Department. It consists of an EMT and a social worker who respond to calls throughout the city, specifically related to mental health crises, substance abuse, and chronic homelessness.


22

You leading the charge to change policy? Yeah care needs to happen. The California mental health care system was dismantled in the 80s. It’s going to cost a lot to recreate it and people seem unwilling.


3

So it was my understanding that the grant monies (State and local) that pay to provide these “Crisis Case Managers” to respond alongside police and fire agencies, were supposed to find alternatives to hospitals or jail for homeless persons in crisis. They were meant to allieviate some of the burden on police, fire and ambulance as well as mental health, hospitals and jail. Yet one well placed punch from a homeless person, and off to jail he goes (which he probably wanted that, or the hospital anyway). Looks like the homeless have once again thwarted yet another attempt by the government to throw money at their problems.


14

“Looks like the homeless have once again thwarted yet another attempt by the government to throw money at their problems.”


I felt the same way when I realized the state prison guards, in charge of security don’t (want to) keep illegal drugs out of the prisons. How much a year do we pay them?


-7

Kettle thank you so much for making the comparison that California’s Prison Industrial Complex has a long history of being as ineffective at it’s job as the Homeless Industrial Complex is becoming. Your beloved Gavin Newsom is closing prisons as quickly as he can (six slated to close in the near future). Unfortunately despite prison closures CDCR’s 2023 budget is at an all-time high. I guess the money we are supposed to be saving on closing prisons, was supposed to go to expanded programs for the homeless. Thanks to your comparison, and this article to which we are commenting; both have so far proven to be equally colossal wastes of money. Seems no matter how much money you spend, you can’t keep drugs out of the hands of inmates, and you can’t keep the homeless out of hospitals and jails.


5

“ Seems no matter how much money you spend, you can’t keep drugs out of the hands of inmates,”


This has been the responsibility of union prison guards long before Newsom graduated high school.


1

So one incident out of thousands of contacts a year and the program is a failure?


-3