Mission Mission

It was kind of a shock when this Caltrans wrecker came barreling up Valencia toward its intersection with Market (and apparently Franklin) siren blaring, horn blasting, engine roaring.  Who knew Caltrans wreckers were equipped with sirens and piloted by expert high-performance drivers?

In any case, it screeched to a halt in the intersection there and the driver took to barking at motorists via loudspeaker to get out of the way. There was a long line of cars queued up in that little slot to make the left turn from outbound Market onto Valencia, and the Caltrans wrecker was stunned that this long line of cars couldn’t get it together to back up or reorganize itself so that he might pass through the slot the wrong way, so he kept barking.

Finally, somebody backed up correctly and the Caltrans wrecker tore ass through the slot, whipped around myriad befuddled motorists and cyclists, forced its way through another intersection and onto the freeway, and sped off into the night.

I wanted to end with WHAT AN ASSHOLE, but he was probably on his way to pull a schoolbus off a nun or something.

Map courtesy of Google Maps.

What’s more annoying double parked on Mission Street on a sunny Sunday afternoon — undercover cops or the Urban Safari?

Previously:

Undercover Cop Crack Rock Scuffle

Undercover Badass

Undercover Takedown at Muddy Waters

Urban Safari in the Gang Injunction Zone (Video)

Yesterday, Mission Loc@l published a photo of Chronicle crime reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken wearing a bullet proof vest while on an embed assignment with SFPD:

Yeah, we know the Mission is one of the more trigger-happy neighborhoods in the city, but we didn’t think the cops considered it Baghdad dangerous. But apparently the police made Chron crime reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken don a bullet-proof vest while embedding with an officer on the Mission streets yesterday, as caught on the neighborhood news Web site, Mission Loc@l. (link)

According to Van Derbeken, “the police provided [the vest] and required I wear it.”  My question: can you keep it as a souvenir afterwards?  That would be hot–sign me up for an embed.

(photo / Mission Loc@l – Reporting / The Snitch)

Obviously, we here at Mission Mission only believe there is a slight chance the owners of Coffee Bar are aiding the Iranian government with their struggles to censor and oppress the populace.  That said, if they are aiding them, they are not trying very hard to conceal it.

Update: Luigi, co-owner of Coffee Bar, gives us this update:

“I spoke with our network administrator earlier and he mentioned that he had caught some people a few months back using our wi-fi (from outside of the cafe) to download porn, which was also jamming up the network for our customers big time. I guess he overshot the security settings a tad and said he would scale back on the settings to allow a larger amount of browsing freedom.”

(Link – Photo and report by le):

“At Coffee Bar in San Francisco, where I often go to work and study, I am blocked from visiting my own website! This is new – it wasn’t this way last week, even. I am honored that someone feels that my site is too much for these laptop zombies in designer denim to take.”

Brittney Gilbert reports that a man on the 49 around 26th and Mission had his wallet stolen right out of his hand.  It sounds like the kids who stole the wallet did not even try to be discrete about it:

“To clarify, two teens on the 49 took a man’s wallet that was in his hand, and hared him to do something about it.  He did not.” (link)

To reiterate:

Get a u-lock

The SF Examiner reports that a 17-year-old guy was brazenly shot in front of Bob’s Liquor and Grocery at 26th and Harrison yesterday afternoon:

Sgt. Lyn Tomioka said the teenager was standing in the doorway of the business when a two-door car pulled up. A passenger exited and shot at the victim, she said.

The victim ran into the store and the shooter got back into the car, driven by a female, and fled.

(link)

SF Appeal just put up a dramatic slide show of this would-be bicycle thief making his getaway after his efforts were thwarted by heroic members of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition:

Photo Gallery: The Face of (Alleged) Bicycle Theft

To reiterate:

Get a U-Lock

They be hatin'

A small group of people, who were wearing funny uniforms and alleging to represent the City of San Francisco and its parks, were out Sunday evening claiming to be enforcing laws established by “the people of San Francisco.”  Their actions included, but were not limited to, disturbing a small dance party due to noise (while a Mustang with no muffler drove by), demanding an owner of a moped leave the park (only after calling some sort of oracle and inquiring if it was illegal to park a motorized vehicle on the grass), and impolitely asking someone to water the grass with a Stella Artois.  Most park-goers failed to recognize the legitimacy of these individuals and continued to drink “the devil’s nectar.”

This bicycle-basket dance party was shut down by individuals claiming to represent the City of San Francisco.

Previous on Mission Mission:

• Crackdown on ‘Adult’ Behavior in Dolores Park?
• Dolores Park Jedi Questions Cops
• Cops Chasing Streakers Through Dolores

According to multiple witnesses on the scene, a male in the white SUV (pictured below) was speeding away from an accident at Capp and 25th when he slammed into 4 vehicles at 23rd.  Allegedly, after he crashed into the first vehicle, he proceeded to back his truck up and speed off going north on Capp.  After hitting a green light at 24th, he spotted a police cruiser and opted to blow through the intersection at 23rd St (in an attempt to evade the officer?).  The red SUV, attempting to avoid him, hit the side of his vehicle and then slammed into a telephone pole.  This caused the white SUV to lose control and go right into a parked BMW sedan, resulting in the SUV flipping through the air and landing on front of the hood of another parked sedan.

A reader, Joe, sends in this thrilling tale of being held-up at gunpoint on Harrison:

Last night my friend and I had the pure joy of being held-up at gunpoint, and it went a little something like this:

- Around 1am in a car at 22nd and Harrison, we get a tap on the driver-side window from the gun barrel of our new acquaintance, his best buddies presents themselves on the passenger side… 3 black males, early to mid 20s, dressed kinda like diamond thieves (all black heavy jackets and ski caps)

- Without any commotion or raised voices, we open the door and proceed to quietly and casually present them with our personal effects… (her purse & phone, my wallet)

- They take off behind us, I proceed to call the cops as we drive away…

Now, for some reason I defaulted by calling the general number for SF Police -who then instructs me to call 911, which then disconnects me twice. Marvelous.

I call back the general number and insist on having them provide dispatch since calling 911 was a world of fail. In less than 2 minutes a few cruisers show up to take things from there.

Goodtimes indeed.

The SFPD Public Affairs Office had no knowledge of any problem with the 911 system.