Francisco Calderon speaks at a previous hearing (Screenshot: Komo News)

Prolific re-offender Francisco Calderon, who threatened to stab two gay men with a syringe, has been released after police changed their arrest policy due to coronavirus concerns.

Rough sleeper Calderon has at least 75 convictions to his name, including sucker-punching a random passerby and throwing coffee in the face of a baby.

He didn’t even spend a day in jail for his latest offence, which occurred in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighbourhood on the evening of March 26. It was logged as a misdemeanour charge.

As of last week, King County police are no longer booking misdemeanour charges to slow the spread of coronavirus in prisons. Police did not respond to questioning from KTTH on whether this was the reason for Calderon’s release.

The police report from March 26 indicates that officers responded to a call about a male suspect “attempting to stab” two gay men with a syringe and “shouting and making threats” at people.

“He also told them he could knock them out with one punch. Calderon had his hands balled up into fists. They later saw that he had an uncapped syringe in his hand.

“[Victim 1] and [Victim 2] crossed the street to avoid Calderon. Calderon followed them but then stopped as he saw a vehicle in the roadway. He attempted to open this vehicle’s door.”

When the driver of the car parked it and ran to safety in a nearby restaurant, Calderon shouted “n****r girl” to her several times from across the street.

He was taken into custody and officers found a small bag of meth in his pocket. His sister has previously said that he is mentally ill and has a history of drug use.

Francisco Calderon was booked into jail just before 11pm on March 26 and was released at 1pm the following afternoon, having spent less than a day in custody.

Elsewhere in King County, jails have announced plans to release hundreds suspects in a bid to stop the virus from spreading to other inmates and staff.

The move has been strongly criticised, with one anonymous officer warning it would lead to a crime “free for all” in Seattle.

“They might as well sound the purge alarms,” they told KTTH, half-jokingly.