A strange and violent incident unfolded Thursday evening on a Tenderloin alley where SF Mayor Daniel Lurie’s black SUV was reportedly blocked in by multiple people, and two of his security guards, both SFPD officers, became involved in a physical fight.
The incident happened just after 5:30 pm Thursday at the intersection of Polk and Cedar streets. As Mission Local reports, it appears that the mayor’s SUV was coming down Cedar Street — an alley that runs parallel to Geary Street, between Van Ness and Larkin — when it was blocked by three individuals in the street.
Mayor Lurie himself reportedly got ouf of the vehicle to ask them to move, and they initially seemed to be complying, Mission Local reported via the SFPD, but then one individual began “talking gibberish” and refused to move. One SFPD officer assigned to the mayor’s security detail then got out of the vehicle and tried to shuffle the man aside, but this is when the altercation began.
Video obtained by Mission Local shows Mayor Lurie briefly looking on and then walking out of the frame as this scuffle begins, but the suspect quickly overpowers the security officer and slams him to the ground — where he apparently hit his head.
Video obtained by Mission Local shows a police officer, part of Mayor Lurie’s security detail, tussling with a man in the Tenderloin.
The mayor looks on before walking away.
The man then slams the officer to the ground, & tries to get on top of him. https://t.co/4x32vFGn2g pic.twitter.com/y2bIMixZlc
— Mission Local (@MLNow) March 6, 2026
A second officer was apparently engaged with another individual, which is not captured in the video.
The two officers both sustained non-life-threatening injuries — and a photo from the scene shows the first officer, who is bald, with a bloody abbrasion on the back of his head.
Other SFPD officers soon descended on the scene and arrested two suspects, as the Chronicle reports.
“We are grateful that the officers assigned to the mayor’s security detail acted swiftly and courageously to protect him in a dangerous and unpredictable situation,” said Louis Wong, president of the San Francisco Police Officers Association, in a statement.
The suspect who pulled the officer to the ground has since been identified as 44-year-old Tony Shervaughn Phillips. He is being held on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury, threatening an officer, battering an officer, and possessing drug paraphernalia.
As the Chronicle reports, Phillips previously was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2019 but never faced charges. That arrest was in connection with the August 2019 killing of 42-year-old Curtis Neal on an alley not far from where Thursday’s incident occurred. Neal was stabbed on Fern Street, about two blocks north, near Van Ness Avenue.
Phillips was accused of stabbing Neal in the course of a fight, but was not charged for lack of evidence, as the Examiner reported at the time.
Several of these alleys between Van Ness and Polk, including Cedar, Fern, and Willow streets, have been consistent magnets for homeless tents and encampments going back to pre-pandemic years.