San Diego city work crews nearly killed a homeless person who was inside a tent they scooped off the sidewalks and placed into a garbage truck.

Only the individual’s screams and frantic arm-waving prevented the clean-up team from activating the hydraulic trash compactor.

City officials, who acknowledged the December accident after questions from The San Diego Union-Tribune, say they are now investigating what happened.

The shrieking came from inside the jumble of tents and bedding and personal belongings scooped off the street.

Arms started flailing and the screams grew louder.

In what can only be described as a jaw-dropping blunder, a homeless person scrambled out of a San Diego city trash truck and avoided being crushed to death by mere seconds.

According to city officials, who confirmed the events from last month after being questioned by The San Diego Union-Tribune, the individual walked away before work crews could offer assistance — or even collect a name and other information.


“This was a terrible incident and all involved were shaken by what occurred,” Paz Gomez, deputy chief operating officer, said in an emailed statement. “Based on initial accounts, city staff and the city’s abatement contractor tried to follow up with the individual but the person immediately left the scene and couldn’t be located.”

Work was suspended for the day to figure out exactly what went wrong.

The unthinkable oversight occurred Dec. 22, on the Friday morning before Christmas at Commercial Street between 16th and 17th streets. Police and code-enforcement officers had performed one of their regular clearings of homeless encampments.

According to people familiar with what happened, police officers at the scene approved the area for clearing before work crews heaved the tent into the trash truck. Presumably they thought the tent was filled with bedding and other discards.


“Generally the police department is supposed to run the lead to roust people ahead of time, but every time some people will not leave,” said one source who was briefed on the mistake. “It’s a tedious process. The abatement is pretty straightforward if no one’s there.”

San Diego police did not respond to questions about why officers directed the code-enforcement team to proceed with the removal of an occupied tent.

The abatements are sidewalk-cleanup efforts that entail removing property left on the street, usually by homeless people. In recent years, block after block of some downtown San Diego neighborhoods have become makeshift camps for a population of homeless people that has swelled past 9,000.

The trash and lack of sanitation contributed to a hepatitis A outbreak last year that killed 20 people and sickened almost 600 before the public-health emergency was declared over this week.


Under a settlement reached in 2011 and approved by a federal judge, San Diego is required to follow specific steps before, during and after the cleanups — protocols that appear to have fallen short in this case.

The agreement, dubbed the Isaiah Settlement after the advocates who challenged San Diego’s practices, requires the city to post notices about the abatements at least three days in advance so homeless people know their property may be confiscated.

Before the sidewalks are cleared, police are supposed to check any tents, lean-tos or other property for materials of worth — important papers, photographs, identification and the like.


If an officer determines some of the property has value, it must be stored so the owners can claim their items. Once San Diego police complete their evaluation of abatement sites, code-enforcement teams are approved to clear the areas.

Attorney Scott Dreher negotiated the settlement seven years ago on behalf of David “the Waterman” Ross, the homeless advocate who created The Isaiah Project to deliver bottles of water to needy people and to lobby for more bathrooms downtown.

Dreher was stupefied when told about the accident last month.

“Thank God somebody heard … and stopped it because it would have been way worse,” he said after digesting what transpired. “As bad as this is, the lawyer part of me doesn’t think there was any kind of malice. It may have been carelessness, it may have been a lack of communication.”


Either way, the attorney said it is clear that city crews did not adhere to the steps outlined in the Isaiah Settlement. If they had followed the terms, police would have examined what was inside the tent before telling code-enforcement teams to proceed, he said.

“We took a lot of time in coming up with specific procedures for when police find things on the street,” he said. “You can’t just throw something away. The whole point of the Isaiah case is unless it’s clearly trash, they have to keep it so it can be claimed.”

Gomez said the city is careful to follow all of the procedures spelled out under the agreement.

“City crews work diligently with homeless individuals to alert them of upcoming abatements and follow strict written procedures when conducting abatements,” she wrote. ““Obviously this event was unacceptable and the city is taking action to ensure this never happens again.”


Michael McConnell is another homeless advocate who has been critical of the city’s treatment of disadvantaged people.

For months he has taken video of police confiscating homeless people’s property and throwing it away. He posts many of the encounters on social-media accounts. McConnell was silent for a moment after learning about the near-death horror.

“I’m a little speechless right now to be honest with you,” he said.

A few seconds later, McConnell said the incident underscores how the city treats its homeless population more generally.


“When I first started covering these sweeps it was really clear they barely looked at the belongings before they were thrown away,” he said. “This just really shows how little they care about people or their belongings.”

McConnell also said it was no surprise the person walked away without further incident.

“There’s so little trust out there,” he said. “That’s one reason why the folks out there do not want to have any encounters with city people -- police or anyone else. They just really feel they are being treated like trash.”

According to Gomez, the city launched an investigation soon after the misstep.


“Dependent on the results of the fact-finding, appropriate follow-up measures will be taken which may include additional training, modifications to procedures and/or disciplinary action,” her statement said. “The city does not comment on personnel matters.”

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City spokeswoman Katie Keach said by email, “The city will share the actions and changes we pursue based on the results of the fact finding. For personnel reasons, the city will not release the fact finding report itself. I understand the fact finding will be complete in the next few weeks, but that is subject to change to ensure all related information is reviewed.”

Dreher is not waiting for city officials to act. He said he planned to approach the court that approved the settlement terms about the apparent violations.


“I will bring this to the attention of the judge and we’ll sit down with him and the city and try to make sure this never happens again,” Dreher said. “I’m not surprised something like this could happen; I’m kind of ashamed.”

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald

UPDATES:

2 p.m. Jan. 30 — This story was updated to use gender-neutral language in referring to the homeless person placed into a trash truck.