San Francisco’s Marina District is one of the wealthiest areas of the city. Nancy Pelosi lives close by. But the residents are on the verge of revolt after former San Francisco Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani was brutally attacked by a transient with a metal crowbar.
He was steps away from his family’s front door when the attack happened at the corner of Magnolia and Laguna Streets. Carmignani tried to get away and ran to Lombard Street, but the suspect kept following and beating him with a large metal pipe.
The victim’s family said 53-year-old Don Carmignani is still at SF General and will be there for days. San Francisco Police later arrested Garret Doty, 24, who was booked on assault with a deadly weapon.
The victim’s father Ray Carmignani said his son suffered a fractured skull, broken jaw, and cuts to his head and face that needed 51 stitches.
A neighbor and witness said: “He beat him brutally. I was screaming, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ I was upstairs. People were recording but I think people were afraid because they don’t know what these people have on them.”
“I saw a guy — he clearly was hit in his head, he was bleeding from his head and a crazy guy with a crow bar and it was pretty disturbing,” said another witness.
“It was just covered with blood when I saw it, it was very hard to tell how bad the wound was, there was so much blood. It was pretty gross.
“I moved in here recently. There’s a surprising amount of homeless activity. Unfortunately, it seems like some of them are kind of crazy.”
Joe Alioto-Veronese, a friend of Carmignani’s, said the victim was at his mother’s home at the time of the attack.
A few homeless people sleeping in front of Carmignani’s parents’ house on Magnolia Street and blocking their front door. Carmignani asked them to move. They didn’t like that and beat him with the crowbar.
Alioto-Veronese said:
“Doty was actually seen swinging the pipe and walking around the neighborhood after the attack.
“It’s dangerous here and the fact that this could happen to a big guy like Don Carmignani, that tells us it could happen to anybody in any neighborhood in San Francisco.
“The fact that even Paul Pelosi could be attacked in a similar fashion in front of police officers inside his own home shows you that no one is safe in this city.
“The city is in absolute chaos because we will continue to spiral in this doom loop.
“These tech titans like Bob Lee are pulling their employees out of San Francisco. Even Lee left the city, and he was murdered while he was visiting.
“This is not just about arresting criminals.
“This is about getting ahead of the mental health crisis.
“The psyche ward of San Francisco General is in the city streets, and it has to stop.”
“We’re all living in this Petri dish of mental health because the city is not dealing with it. So it’s like the insane asylum is our neighborhood and that’s what’s become of San Francisco.”
Kevin DeMartini said:
“If our politicians don’t put this guy away, it’s like they’re declaring war on the citizens of San Francisco.
“At what point do we fight back, I mean at what point do we fight back?
“Donny, he could die, he could die, we’re just going to sit here and take it?
“Nah man.
“They messed with the wrong one this time.
“I’ve known Donny my whole life.
“This is not getting swept under the rug,” he said.
One mile from Nancy Pelosi’s home.
Ex-San Fran fire commissioner attacked with crowbar day after Bob Lee killed https://t.co/tkmesO2PY8
— G in NYC (@G_in_NYC_) April 8, 2023
Friends and family of former San Francisco fire commissioner Don Carmignani are shocked and angry about his attack Wednesday. They say he was trying to ask an unhoused person clear out of his parents’ doorway in the city’s Marina District when he was beaten with a metal pipe. pic.twitter.com/RCZNv6ZKTH
— Sergio Quintana (@svqjournalist) April 7, 2023
A brutal attack on a former fire department commissioner is putting in question, again, the safety on San Francisco’s streets. Cell phone video shows the man San Francisco police say brutally assaulted Don Carmignani, with some type of metal object. https://t.co/sSRGNaT8MS pic.twitter.com/Q5TgDMQ5gz
— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) April 8, 2023
