Lawyer for man accused in scuffle with San Francisco mayor’s bodyguard seeks dismissal of charges

By Carlos E. Castañeda

The attorney for a man facing multiple charges in connection with an altercation with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s security detail is blaming the incident on the mayor’s bodyguard.

A judge on Wednesday released 44-year-old Tony Phillips on bail after viewing surveillance footage of the incident that happened on March 5, near Larkin and Cedar streets.

One video showed Lurie’s bodyguard, who is also a San Francisco police officer, shoving Phillips off his feet. A second video recorded moments after showed Phillips grappling with the bodyguard and slamming him to the ground.

There were words exchanged before the scuffle began, according to District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. The bodyguard suffered a concussion during the incident.

Phillips faces charges of resisting an executive officer, causing great bodily injury, assault of a police officer, contempt of a court order, and unauthorized lodging.   

Defense attorney Ivan Rodriguez said he wants all charges dismissed.

“I made two requests today, the first one was for the court to release Mr. Phillips from custody, and the second request that I made was for the DA to look into this case, to look very closely to determine whether justice actually means continuing this prosecution against Mr. Phillips.”

Rodriguez said he will also be asking the district attorney to dig deeper into the incident to see if the mayor or his security detail should be facing charges.

“Mayor Lurie asked for his detail to step out of the car because they wanted to engage and confront these individuals that were out on the street,” he said. “I don’t think that’s leadership. I think that’s performative. It’s a situation where he put the security detail at risk on top of putting citizens at risk.”

Mayor Lurie contends he was worried about Phillips’ safety and asked him and others to move along from the area of Cedar and Larkin. While the case goes through the court system, the mayor threw his support behind his security detail.

“They put themselves in harm’s way every single day,” he said. “Looking out for me, looking out for my children, and looking out for my wife. I want you all to know that I want to look out for them like I want to look out for every member of our SFPD.”

Phillips also has pending charges of loitering unrelated to the incident, and has a stay-away order to remain at least 150 feet away from the location where the incident occurred. Phillips was scheduled to return to court on April 15 for the incident with the mayor’s bodyguard.

A second man arrested for allegedly resisting a police officer during the incident, 33-year-old Abraham Simon, was cited and released. He was scheduled to be in court on April 6.