Arrest in attack on homeless man

A 58-year-old man was arrested Sunday on suspicion of assault in what appears to be two separate unprovoked attacks in San Francisco when he allegedly kicked a homeless man and broke the nose of another man on Muni, authorities said.

Samuel Youmtoub of San Francisco was booked into San Francisco County Jail on two counts of aggravated assault in both cases, according to the San Francisco Police Department.

The first incident occurred about 3:35 p.m. on May 24 near the intersection of Leavenworth and McAllister streets, police said. A 38-year-old homeless man was lying on the sidewalk when Youmtoub viciously kicked him in the face, authorities said.

Surveillance from a nearby Muni stop captured the attack on video, police said.

“When you look at how our society treats people who ... experience homelessness, our priority is not valuing this population.”

Kelley Cutler, Coalition on Homelessness

The victim, who was not identified, lay motionless after the attack and was transported to the hospital with serious injuries, police said. Youmtoub, meanwhile, walked to United Nations Plaza.

Surveillance footage shows a man wearing a dark colored suit, a black beanie and glasses kick the man twice before walking away from the scene. The footage drew international attention.

Attacksagainst homeless people like the one caught on surveillance footage May 24 are not uncommon in the Bay Area, said Kelley Cutler, a human rights organizer with San Francisco’s Coalition on Homelessness.

“Folks that are forced to live on the street, it’s very risky. It’s dangerous,” Cutler said. “So people are targeted pretty often actually. When you look at how our society treats people who ... experience homelessness, our priority is not valuing this population.”

Cutler added that it’s unclear whether the number of attacks against the homeless has increased in San Francisco specifically.

The National Coalition for the Homeless released a report tracking the number of crimes against homeless people in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, nationwide, there were 77 victims of attacks against people experiencing homelessness — 27 of the victims from those attacks were killed.

After Youmtoub attacked the homeless man, he was captured on Muni surveillance video five days later at about 3:05 p.m. aboard a bus at Eighth Street near Mission Street, police said. The video footage allegedly shows him grabbing a 28-year-old man by his hair and repeatedly slamming his face into a steel handrail.

The victim, who was not identified, apparently suffered a broken nose.

He was a Muni patron, and authorities don’t typically classify victims as “homeless,” said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a spokesman for the San Francisco Police Department.

“In the first attack, the victim’s status was apparent from the circumstances of the attack,” he added.

Youmtoub also fled the scene in the second incident, police said.

Authorities said both attacks appeared to be unprovoked, and neither the victims nor the suspect knew each other.

On Sunday, a Tenderloin Station police officer was walking on Market Street about 12:40 p.m. when he spotted Youmtoub walking near U.N. Plaza, police said. The officer and her partner recognized Youmtoub from the surveillance footage and immediately took him into custody.

He is being held on a $120,200 bail.