Lyn Tomioka

Family Found Dead in House Near City College This Morning in Apparent Murder-Suicide

​(Update 1:27 p.m.): Cmdr Lyn Tomioka gave reporters an update on the tragedy, saying four of the five victims are definitely related, and the fifth victim is probably an acquaintance. She would still not confirm that the shooting was a murder-suicide, but noted that they are not looking for any s ... More >>

DNA Lab Cover-Up: SFPD to Investigate Claims in Secret Court Records

Tourneau Robbery Nets $55,000 Worth of Watches

A Cartier watch like this will cost you more than $6,700 at Tourneau -- but it's free if you steal it​A trio of robbers, armed with a hammer and pepper spray, hit the Tourneau store in the Westfield Mall Tuesday, making off with 19 watches valued at $55,000. The suspects pepper-sprayed a store emp ... More >>

Poll Worker Who Allegedly Stole Ballots in Custody

Stop, ballot thief! ​Police told SF Weekly that a poll worker accused of running off with election materials yesterday is in custody. The items he is accused of stealing may not have been returned, however. In a bizarre instance city election director John Arntz told media he believes has never be ... More >>

SFPD Returns Seven Pounds of Marijuana to Grower

Just holding it for you​Should you run afoul of the law, your property may be seized as evidence. If you are acquitted or your charges dismissed, your property is returned. This principle is simple but it doesn't always apply to pot growers. But it does for Cody Phillips, whose cultivation for sal ... More >>

'Bait Car' comes to San Francisco

White Nationalist Group To Protest 'Machete' Movie With Machetes This Weekend

Whitey, beware? ​A group of white nationalists will protest the new Robert Rodriguez movie Machete  -- which depicts a Mexican renegade attempting to assassinate an anti-immigrant senator played by Robert DeNiro -- at Bay Area cinemas this week. This gets even more interesting: The protesters ... More >>

HazMat Teams On Scene at Pier 96 Recycling Facility

​Update: "White powder" at recycling facility was Ammonium Phosphate, a fertilizer. See more after the jump. Reports are trickling in of workers at Pier 96 -- the city's recycling sorting facility, which is operated by Recology -- being sickened by some manner of "chemical."Televised images reveal ... More >>

SFPD Spokesman Albie Esparza *Not* the Victim of Road Rage

Albie is that you?​We couldn't help but notice a Web report earlier today that 52-year-old Albie Esparza was nearly hit with a car, then beaten with a bat and knocked to the ground last night in an apparent road rage incident. Esparza, it was reported, suffered life-threatening injuries. There's o ... More >>

Path to Civility

Cyclists jumping lights and drivers blocking bike lanes need to get cited.

Market Street Chess Games Shut Down

Games are gone​Among the tamest symptoms of San Francisco's homeless problem were the dozen or so chess boards set up on the north side of Market Street near the Powell BART/Muni station. Anyone was free to sit down to a game, be it a 10-move checkmate by an SRO-living grandmaster or an hours-long ... More >>

SFPD Announces Arrests in Anti-Bike Rampage, Pearla Louis Suitcase Murder Cases

Lee Bell has been arrested for the 'suitcase murder' of Pearla Ann Louis​San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon announced this afternoon that suspects have been arrested in two serious police investigations: The case of a rampaging motorist who drove an SUV into four bicyclists on Wednesday nigh ... More >>

Police Hunt for SUV Driver Who Hit Four Cyclists

Joe Eskenazi​A man witnesses claim swerved and drove on the wrong side of the road in a deliberate effort to run down four bicycle riders last night is still on the loose. The motorist of a blue Nissan Rogue struck four cyclists over a five-minute period in Mission and Potrero Hill before crashing ... More >>

Felony Charges For Two Alleged Attackers of White Separatists

Andrew Yeoman's alleged attackers didn't use just a hose on Saturday...​Police have booked two people who allegedly attacked members of a white separatist anarchist group at Saturday's San Francisco immigration march. The pair have been hit with felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, robbe ... More >>

Policeman Shoots Woman Who Allegedly Tried to Run Him Over

The above video is the aftermath of a scary situation on Seventh and Folsom at about 5 p.m. when a police officer shot and wounded a woman he says raced her car toward him.The female driver reportedly hit several cars while driving down Folsom Street. The police officer fired a shot through the w ... More >>

State Ban On Texting While Biking Proposed; Will Fire Juggling Be Next?

Soon-to-be outlaw?​San Francisco Police Lieutenant Lyn Tomioka's response when we called her to talk about a proposed statewide ban on the use of mobile phones while bicycling was revealing: an amused chuckle.Ever circumspect in her public comments, department spokesperson Tomioka wouldn't comment ... More >>

Nightlife-Busting Cop Larry Bertrand 'Voluntarily Reassigned'

'No, he's been reassigned...' ​Officer Larry Bertrand's controversial policing of nightclubs and underground parties in SOMA made him the subject of two alt weekly cover stories in the past two weeks. But even before both articles were published, Bertrand was no longer working in plainclothes to p ... More >>

Can San Francisco Narcotics Cops Play 'Mr. Wizard?'

'Looks like you've got some primo blow there, Billy...'​With San Francisco crime lab tech Deborah Madden accused of going Scarface with the lab's coke stash, the police now are going to try their hand at Mr. Wizard. Backing up: Since the crime lab's narcotics unit has gone dark pending an investig ... More >>

Suspect in Robbery, Stabbing of Cabbie Balvinder Singh Apparently Left Phone in Cab

Not the phone in question, incidentally​Yesterday, we wondered how the "excellent witnesses" lauded by the San Francisco Police Department led to the arrest of Bruce Griffin, the man suspected of robbing and stabbing cabbie Balvinder Singh on Jan. 11, nearly killing the veteran driver. Well, havin ... More >>

Suspect Arrested for Stabbing, Robbery of Cabbie Balvinder Singh

View Larger Map The San Francisco Police Department moments ago announced it has arrested the man it believes beat, stabbed, and robbed cabbie Balvinder Singh on Jan. 11, nearly killing the 53-year-old driver. Police spokesman Lieutenant Lyn Tomioka said that "excellent witnesses" who aided Singh a ... More >>

Is Potty Arsonist Back?

​Last year, 27 portable toilets went up in flames in San Francisco, and nobody knows why. In the absence of any explanation, we made some shit up. But the terrifying reality is that some nefarious toilet igniter is still out there, perhaps targeting his or her next defenseless shitter at ... More >>

Breaking: Suicidal Person Threatening to Jump on 500 Block of Valencia

View Larger Map A man on the scene has informed us that a suicidal person is threatening to leap off a building on Valencia between 16th and 17th Streets, and the area has been closed off since around 5:45. Police spokeswoman Sergeant Lyn Tomioka confirmed that the 500 block of Valencia -- the "old ... More >>

Is 'Night Stalker' Richard Ramirez Responsible for an Unsolved 1984 S.F. Murder?

A police mugshot of Richard Ramirez​The San Francisco Police Department just issued an advisory stating that a press conference to be held at 3 p.m. today at the Hall of Justice will explore the possibility that serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka "the Night Stalker," (so named for his propensity t ... More >>

Support Your Local Police: Cops Ask Permission to Accept Key Chains and Pistols

​Everyone harbors suspicions that police are enjoying deep discounts on coffee and donuts all over the city -- and, as department spokeswoman Sergeant Lyn Tomioka tells us, they usually are. But it's protocol to never accept anything for free. If the clerk insists, the common practice is to toss t ... More >>

Drug Deal in Pacific Heights Goes Bad -- Really Bad

​When you're buying drugs, all kinds of bad things can happen -- but losing your clothes usually isn't high on the list of concerns (particularly when you are buying your drugs in Pacific Heights). At 1:30 this morning, a 27-year-old guy trying to score drugs from two older m ... More >>

Details Emerge In Fatal Lower Haight Pedestrian Incident

​Earlier today we wrote about how residents of the Lower Haight wandered out of their homes at around 7:15 to gape skyward at a loud, low-flying helicopter. "Why would Trauma shoot a scene now?" some must have wondered. It turned out this was no TV show, but a fatal car-on-pedestrian incident on F ... More >>

Cops: Man Accused of Dousing Neighbor in Boiling Oil Had Lengthy Criminal Record

​When San Francisco police followed a trail of splattered grease down the hall of the Rose Hotel to William Pious' room and arrested him for allegedly dousing a sleeping neighbor with a pan of boiling cooking oil, it was not the 50-year-old's first brush with the law. The SFPD states that Pious wa ... More >>

Cops Who Shot and Killed Cleaver-Wielding Man in Visitacion Valley to be Nominated for Medal of Valor

​A group of San Francisco police officers who last weekend gunned down an apparently deranged man wielding a meat cleaver are to be nominated for a medal of valor by their station commander.SFPD Captain David Lazar, who heads the Ingleside station, said in his most recent newsletter that he plans ... More >>

Facebook Scam Targets Grandparents of Military Personnel

When Johnny comes marching home -- he'll be POed that grandma sent that scammer posing as him some cash​We're not sure how many grandparent-age readers we have here in blogland, so we thought we'd relay word of this heartless scam to readers that may know some older folks.As if military families n ... More >>

Yesterday's News Tomorrow! SFPD Release Tally For DUI Checkpoint -- Eventually.

The Colonel's chain of eateries remind us of ... DUI checkpoints​I got it from Agnes. She got it from Jim; we all agree it must have been him. ... Now she got it from Harry, who got it from Marie. And everybody knows that Marie got it from me. -- Tom Lehrer Thanks to the official tally of last Sa ... More >>

Police: Weekend's Flaming Car Had Nothing to Do With Other Flaming Cars

www.lcpstc.orgWait! This time there was a logical reason for a car to be found on fire.​San Francisco cops arriving at the scene of a blazing automobile must now ask themselves a modified version of the most famous of Passover queries: "How is this burning vehicle different from all other burning ... More >>

Hello Holiday Inn: Mesa Cops Aiding SFPD Chief Gascon's Transition Scrimping on San Francisco-Paid Expenses

The SFPD's new model for tight-fistedness​The Arizona Republic Thursday ran an article reporting that new San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon is enlisting officers from his former post of Mesa, Ariz. to fly out west and help him get the San Francisco Police Department up and running to ... More >>

SOMA residents peeved about Stanlee Gatti's noisy Sunday night bash

Officer concludes distinguished career while being investigated by the FBI

SFPD: Dead Man Discovered In Kezar Stadium Parking Lot 'Definitely a Homicide'

View Larger MapThe unidentified man police discovered at around 2:30 this morning is "definitely a homicide" according to San Francisco Police Department spokeswoman Sergeant Lyn Tomioka -- making the man the city's 21st homicide victim of the year. The victim -- whose identity, age, race, and othe ... More >>

Pair of Decorated Police Horses Head Out To Pasture -- Equine Who Killed Man at 49ers Game Still Working, Incidentally

Starting tomorrow, it'll be all carrots and no sticks for Kenny and Chip. The pair of longtime San Francisco police horses will be retired in a Tuesday morning ceremony at the Golden Gate Park stables, curtailing a combined 22 years of police work for the pair of horses -- in which, unlike their hum ... More >>

Critical Ass: SF's World Naked Bike Ride 2009

On Saturday at noon, Justin Herman Plaza was sun-drenched and buzzing with the activity of particularly open-minded crowd, and passersby were beginning to take notice. "What the hell are all these people doing half-naked and shit?" one man cried.He was obviously not familiar with the way t ... More >>

Warrants Indicate Hundreds of Pot Plants Seized From Property Adjoining Bayview Warehouse That Suspiciously Burned Last Month

Persons of interest...Search warrants indicate that police confiscated 860 marijuana plants growing in a structure a stone's throw from a Bayview warehouse that burst into flames last month -- a strong indication that initial theories blaming careless pot-growers for the blaze may well be accurate. ... More >>

How will the cops enforce S.F.'s new club loitering law?

ATM 'False Front' -- A.K.A Skimmer -- Discovered Near a San Francisco Bank

Just when you thought you knew every way you could be scammed out of your identity and money and potentially everything you own, something like this pops up.   Skimmers -- or high-tech false fronts that are placed over ATM and gas pump card slots for the purpose of stealin ... More >>

San Francisco Arson Case Involving Man With 'Box on Fire' Who Torched Car Grows Weirder and Weirder

Marvel ComicsAn artist's rendition of San Francico's bizarre vehicular arson case. That artist is, of course, Jack Kirby. How does a reported Monday-morning arson case in which a mysterious man toting a "box on fire" immolating an occupied car get any stranger? How about if the person who fled the b ... More >>

A Horse's Gift

City rules draw a fine line between manure and crap.

Early Nominee for San Francisco's Vaguest Crime of 2009 (Booze and Bullets Prominently Involved)

Robbed ... somewhere ... by somebody ... somehow. The San Francisco Police Department is often raked over the coals for its failure to solve -- or even attempt to solve -- a number of the city's crimes.But sometimes you've got to give the Boys in Blue a break. Take the following case reported at 11 ... More >>

As Second Potrero Hill Outhouse Smolders, Police Insist This Is Not Funny

An erudite citizen on the 400 block of Kansas Street called 911 at 10 minutes to midnight on Tuesday reporting "the glow of a fire." It turns out it was the immolation of outhouse No. 24. After preying on porta-johns in the Russian Hill and Nob Hill areas for months, the outhouse arsonist -- or arso ... More >>

SFPD: News Report in Error, Police Didn't Witness Weekend Shooting

"Man Shot Dead in Front of San Francisco Police in Broad Daylight" is a headline that raises troubling questions, particularly when it's followed by: "No suspects were arrested." That was the gist of a Bay City News brief yesterday appearing in the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, and Sa ... More >>

Police: 'Device' Detonated Near Kezar Stadium Wednesday Was Just Duffel Bag Full of Clothes

The "device" that exploded last night at the intersection of Waller Street and Kezar Drive loudly enough to be heard a mile off was just a gym bag full of old clothes pre-emptively destroyed by the SFPD. Police spokeswoman Sgt. Lyn Tomioka told SF Weekly that police at Park Station were informed tha ... More >>

Mission Possible? SFPD Nails 100 Percent of Homicide Suspects in 2009

Maybe the SFPD ate their Wheaties. Maybe they made a New Year's resolution. But you know that bit about the San Francisco Police Department having one of the worst arrest rates of homicide suspects in the United States? It appears that it's a new day, folks (in the first 16 days of 2009, at least).W ... More >>

Hot Shit: Serial Porta-John Arsonist Torches Another S.F. Commode, Well on Way to Becoming Dillinger of Outhouse-Related Crime

By Joe EskenaziFirst there were the Zebra Murders. Then Zodiac. And now -- the serial porta-john arsonist. As the 13th smoldering outhouse since November was doused early this morning, the realization was unavoidable: The city is, once again, host to a disturbed individual terrorizing our denizens w ... More >>

Holocaust Memorial Vandalized -- Yes, Again. The Culprit: All of San Francisco

For the third time in a period of only several months, an unknown vandal hit San Francisco's Holcaust memorial -- meaning, whatever other adjectives you could use to describe someone who sees fit to desecrate the memories of 6 million Jews and 11 million victims of the Nazis, add "unoriginal." Also ... More >>

SF Cops Nab Dozens of Criminals in Citywide Sweep

San Francisco Police arrested 39 fugitives on Thursday over a 12-hour period. The citywide sweep targeted high-risk parole and probation violators who were wanted for robbery, narcotics and sexual predator crimes. There were four women among those arrested. The arrests were made as a result of ... More >>