A former San Francisco fire commissioner was the victim of a vicious attack in the city on Friday. He was reportedly attacked by a group of assailants who slashed him with a knife and beat him with a metal pipe, fracturing his skull.
According to his friend and prominent Bay Area lawyer, Joe Alioto Veronese, 53-year-old Don Carmignani was attacked on April 6 after he left his parents’ home in the city’s Marina District.
“Last night at 7pm in the marina district at Laguna and Chestnut Street, a friend and former San Francisco Commissioner was brutally beaten by a group of homeless people in front of his home,” he stated on Twitter. “He is at SF General fighting for his life. Pray4Him.”
According to Alioto Veronese, neighbors called 911 after witnessing the attack. He said he visited Carmignani at the hospital the following day, saying he is expected to survive the attack, but faces a long recovery.
After officers obtained a description of the assailant at the crime scene, 24-year-old Garret Doty was arrested by responding officers in the area of Laguna and Lombard Streets.
The suspect was taken into custody and booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and battery causing serious injury.
Shortage of Police Personnel
Speaking at a city meeting following the incident, City Supervisor and neighborhood representative Catherine Stefani reportedly said that the attack was likely the result of a shortage of police officers in the city’s police department.
In a later statement, Stefani said that “this type of violence has no place in our city. We need more officers on our streets and we need the violence to end. We need action now.”
The San Francisco Standard reported that Carmignani’s mother had previously alerted law enforcement to a group of homeless drug users who were lurking outside her front door. Stefani went on to say that after officers failed to respond to the call, Carmignani went outside to ask them to move away.
“I’ve been here 21 years, and this didn’t use to happen. I believe this is a direct result of the fact that we do not have enough officers on our street,” Stefani was quoted as saying.
According to Lt. Tracy McCray, vice president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, the city’s police department is short more than 500 officers, the New York Post reported.
Frequent Violent Attacks
The brutal attack follows another, even more violent assault in the city. Forty-three-year-old Cash App founder and father of two, Bob Lee, died after being stabbed on April 4 in the city’s affluent Rincon Hill neighborhood on a visit to the city.
According to Jake Shields, a mixed-martial arts fighter and a friend off Lee’s, the city’s Democratic local government is trying to pretend San Francisco is a safe place—despite on-going violence and frequent vicious attacks in the city.
Official data shows that there has been a decline in most major crimes in San Francisco in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2022, but that there has been a slight increase in violent crime. Additionally, robberies have increased by close to 20 percent, while homicides have risen by almost 35 percent.
The attack on Carmignani occurred close to the home of Nancy Pelosi. The residence of the former House Speaker was the target of a home invasion attack last year in which Pelosi’s husband Paul suffered a fractured skull.
Anyone with information on Bob Lee’s death is asked to call San Francisco’s tip line at 1-415-575-4444.
