S.F. police go beyond duty to help homeless family

S.F. police officers paid out of their own pockets so a homeless family could spend a night out of the rain at the Budget Inn on Market Street. S.F. police officers paid out of their own pockets so a homeless family could spend a night out of the rain at the Budget Inn on Market Street. Photo: Phil Matier/San Francisco Chroni Photo: Phil Matier/San Francisco Chroni Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close S.F. police go beyond duty to help homeless family 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

A group of San Francisco cops dug deep into their own pockets so a homeless family they found stranded on Market Street could get out of the rain and into a warm hotel for the night.

"You see a lot on this beat, but this one was really unique," said Officer Eithne Cummins.

It all started just before 9 p.m. Friday with a call to Southern Station from Salvation Army workers who were handing out hot chocolate to homeless people near Civic Center just as the storm hitting the Bay Area was in full swing.

"They said they had just served a father and his five children who appeared to have nowhere to go," said Lt. Teresa Gracie.

Cummins and three other officers who were patrolling the area in their squad cars responded, and at the corner of Seventh and Market streets found the father and five children, ranging in age from 12 years to 8 months, huddled in the downpour.

"Here were these five kids, all dressed well but just down on their luck with all their bags and two strollers," Cummins said.

The family - from Florida, by way of the East Bay town of Pittsburg - had been staying in a family shelter, but missed the 8 p.m. door closing.

And they had chosen to stay together and tough out the storm.

"The eldest daughter, who was 12, seemed to be taking care of the other kids and the dad was just kind of lost," Cummins said.

Now it was late, and the rain was showing no sign of letting up. After a couple of calls, it was clear that no city or charity service was going to be able to help.

But there was a hotel nearby. Not the Ritz, but warm and dry and willing to take the whole family.

With that, Cummins and fellow Officers Valerie Durkin, Brian Carew and Brendan Caraway pooled their dinner money, bundled up the family and got a $65 room at the Budget Inn on Market Street. Then they went across the street to the CVS and bought wet wipes and formula for the baby.

The next day, their lieutenant at Southern, Gracie, worked the phones and got the family into some longer-term housing.

Then she called the neighborhood burrito shop and ordered dinner for the cops who had given up their own the night before.

Punch line: A fired San Francisco prosecutor is suing the district attorney's office, saying he was tossed for cracking wise.

In recent weeks, there have been a string of exits from D.A. George Gascón's shop for various reasons. But the ouster of Paul Brennan, a six-year deputy in the office, really has people talking.

According to Brennan's lawsuit, filed Friday in San Francisco Superior Court, he was giving a training talk to fellow prosecutors about juvenile law when he referred to a defense attorney who regularly discusses his cases in a courtyard at Juvenile Hall. Brennan joked that "he hadn't heard anything yet," according to the suit filed by his attorney, Joel Siegal.

Although actually listening in on such conversations would be considered a violation of attorney-client privilege, Brennan's suit says, his "comment was understood as a joke and drew laughter from the audience."

Fast forward three months, to last June. Brennan says he was summoned to a meeting with Chief Assistant District Attorney Sharon Woo and told he was being placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into his wisecrack.

According to the lawsuit, Brennan was then "escorted back to his desk by an armed" D.A.'s investigator, ordered to gather his belongings and not to talk to any of his co-workers - nor to return to the Hall of Justice unless authorized.

Two weeks later, on July 1, he was fired.

Arthur Hartinger, a private attorney hired by the city to represent Gascón's office, said Brennan's complaint was "thoroughly reviewed and found meritless." He declined to comment further, calling it a personnel matter.

One office insider suggested that there was more to the case than just a single one-liner, and that Brennan's judgment wasn't always spot-on.

Brennan claims the real reason he was shown the door was because he blew the whistle on a supervisor who may have been fudging on his time cards. He says he met twice with Gascón about it, and that the supervisor was eventually reassigned.

According to the suit, bosses friendly to the supervisor then retaliated by trumping up a case against him - even as Gascón let other prosecutors get away with worse than what Brennan was accused of.

Those include the attorney who, he says, made racist jokes during another in-house training session while "dressed up in stereotypically Arabian garments and head wrap." And the prosecutor who was allegedly found to be carrying a crack pipe and "drug debris."

Nor, the suit says, did Gascón fire an attorney who continued to prosecute cases for three weeks after her license to practice law had been suspended.

Last word: The big question, of course, is whether traffic reporters will go along with the Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge name change.

"My bet?" said Brown. "Only when there is a big backup."