San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie blamed for wild brawl that injured his bodyguard: cops

San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie sparked a wild brawl between bystanders blocking the road and his security detail, a police report has revealed.

The incident started when Lurie saw people sitting on the sidewalk near the drug-plagued Tenderloin neighborhood of the city and ordered his driver to pull over.

The mayor hopped out of the car and his security officer, Joel Aguayo, followed him. Lurie went over to the men sitting on the sidewalk and asked them to move, but at least one of the men refused, according to the police report obtained by the San Francisco Standard.

“On whose behalf do I need to move,” Tony Phillips, who was once suspected in a murder case, said according to Aguayo.

Witness statements in the report said the mayor “addressed the group and requested that they move along, as they were standing in the roadway. Phillips became immediately argumentative, stating that he did not have to move.”

The mayor informed Phillips that Aguayo was a San Francisco police officer, but this did nothing to sway him as the man continued to refused demands for him to move.

Lurie and Aguayo asked the man to move at least four times, according to the Standard. The pair threatened to call uniformed officers to move him, but Phillips did not comply.

The situation escalated when Phillips stepped toward Aguayo, the report said, and told him he would “Bruce Lee kick your a**.”

Aguayo then pushed Phillips to the ground, sparking the physical altercation caught on camera. As the pair grappled with each other, Lurie is seen fast walking and then running.

The mayor apparently ran to tell his driver, officer Nicolas Boccio, that his partner was in trouble.

Boccio then dashed to assist Aguayo, but not before another man, Abraham Simon, confronted him and reached for his waistband, the report said. Boccio pulled his service weapon and Simon stopped his assault.

The pair didn’t manage to restrain Phillips, but arriving officers helped take him into custody. Phillips is facing charges of threatening an officer, inflicting great bodily injury, and contempt of court for violating a stay-away order for the alley. The pair, including Simon who is charged with interfering with an officer, will be arraigned on Tuesday.

Aguayo suffered cuts to the back of his ahead, bruising to his face and a back injury. He said he tried to de-escalate, but failed. The city’s Department of Police Accountability is investigating the incident, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Lurie appeared to respond to the incident in an Instagram video.

“I’m walking the streets of San Francisco every day because I believe you can’t solve what you can’t see,” he said.

“I will continue talking to our families, small businesses owners, and residents and staying laser focused on public safety and transforming our approach to homelessness and the behavioral health crisis.”

He’s drawn criticism for the recent altercation, including from some replying to his recent post. “Walking around with his security guard starting fights with the homeless again are we?” one commenter said.

“Ur security gonna start more fights they can’t finish while u walk away?” another added.

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