Police say that domestic violence is the most dangerous situation that they have to get involved with. The sudden unpredictability can result in injury to those intervening.
A popular 7-11 in the Castro district takes good care of their coffee and is very busy with cops and cabbies. One weekend night about 10:00pm, I parked the cab and headed for my Jolt Cola and coffee fix, to keep me going until 4:00am. Outside the store was an impromptu encampment of two homeless men. As I approached, one man began shouting at the other, then grabbed him and began punching him in the face. I jogged over to intervene, had my mace/pepper spray dispenser in my hand, when a group of 8 gay men walking by, shouted and walked over to step in. Several of them talked to the homeless assailant, momentarily distracting him from his partner. The situation began to calm, when the hitter suddenly resumed hitting the victim. I stepped up with mace poised, the group of Samaritans
saw it and stepped back to avoid any contact. I maced the hitter: he stopped punching and put his hands to his face.
The victim recovered his balance and appeared to collect his belongings to leave the scene. Sleeping bag over one arm, he picked up a large Thermos bottle by the cup handle and suddenly swung it like a discus thrower. He pasted the momentarily blinded hitter across the face, stunning him. The crowd of men hopped into action to stop his wind-up for a second strike, and pushed him down the street. With his belongings and Thermos, the victim disappeared from our view while the remaining guy stood still, waiting for the mace in his eyes to clear.
I gave a good opportunity for the group of men to try negotiating a peace between the homeless men, I stopped the beating, I helped separate the two men, and gave them a chance to cool off before getting back together.
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