Bobby Meza was riding the 14 Mission bus to a lunch date with his girlfriend Sept. 23 when he saw a fellow passenger attempting to put his hand under the skirt of a teenage girl.
The girl’s mother was yelling at the man to stop. The bus was full of people, yet no one intervened. Except Meza.
“I told him I fear no man, and no matter what, he’s not getting back to the women,” said Meza, 43, in an exclusive interview with The Standard.
Meza stood between the man and the girl and her mom and told him to sit down. In response, the man attacked him with a box cutter. Meza thought he was getting punched until he saw the “gush” of blood coming out of his neck.
Glenn Hopkins, who is accused of attacking Meza, has been charged with attempted murder and remains in custody.
Meza, who was treated at a hospital after the attack, still has a wound on his neck.
He was painted as a “good Samaritan” by DA Brooke Jenkins and received praise on social media for his actions. But a day after he was released from the hospital, he was arrested and jailed hundreds of miles away for outstanding warrants in Madera County.
He figures speaking to police as a victim and witness to the attack led to his arrest the following day.
Still, Meza has no regrets.
“I would do it again to stand up for women,” he said. “I don’t abide womanizing.”
Bobby Meza shows the gash on his neck the boxcutter attack on Muni. | Source: Manuel Orbegozo for The Standard
Meza said he came to San Francisco in search of redemption.
A failed relationship in 2025 led him to abuse alcohol and methamphetamine. His ex-girlfriend was emotionally abusive and unfaithful, Meza said.
His ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence, according to Madera County court records, a claim he denies.
He became homeless after the split and adopted a miniature pitbull named Darla. Meza treasured the unconditional love Darla had for him, but she died after going into labor. Meza blamed himself for her death, saying he was too addicted to drugs to seek proper care for her.
The dog’s death motivated him to come to San Francisco in February to seek treatment. He’s been enrolled at Walden House, a drug treatment center, for five months. He’s been employed for a month at SFO as a logistics coordinator for airline food caterer Sky Chefs, he said.
Bobby Meza shares a photo of his late dog Darla. | Source: Manuel Orbegozo for The Standard
But that didn’t stop his past from following him to San Francisco.
The day he was arrested, officers surrounded him near the front door of Walden House’s transitional sober-living home in the Haight and told him he had outstanding warrants, he said. On Sept. 29, he was booked into Madera County jail.
While in San Francisco, he had called the Madera County clerk to check for any active warrants under the name “Robert Meza” but didn’t ask them to search his legal name, Roberto Bobby Meza, under which there were active warrants for theft and narcotics violations, he said.
He appeared in Madera County Superior Court on Oct. 1 and was released. His next court date is Nov. 19. But he’s not bitter about his arrest and said it was the first step in facing his past.
He has since returned to San Francisco, with a plan to stay sober and write a memoir. He’s on Chapter 22.
“That’s what the Walden House taught me: to build on top of the rubble that I’ve created, and now I have a solid foundation, Meza said. “The sky’s the limit for me.”
Bobby Meza leaves Daniel E. Koshland Park to go to his new job. | Source: Manuel Orbegozo for The Standard