The cause of a three-alarm fire that tore through a vacant home in the Bayview district late Saturday remains unknown, authorities said Sunday. The blaze spread to neighboring homes and displaced 30 residents.The fire at 1881 Oakdale Ave. began about 9:30 p.m., spreading to two-story homes on either side before it was extinguished about 90 minutes later, the Fire Department said.
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A catastrophic earthquake strikes the Bay Area, and Oakland’s emergency responders can’t communicate with their San Francisco peers. Firefighters are called to a burning apartment building, but can’t see flames approaching across the complex. A child or Alzheimer’s sufferer is missing, but police in other cities lack a photo. City officials hope to prevent such scenarios by implementing a $100 million regional broadband network that might eventually link all Bay Area first responders with smartphones or computers that can send photos, texts and streaming videos.
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One night more than three years ago, Eloy Muniz allegedly attacked and threatened his girlfriend at a dinner party, chasing her into a bathroom where, once the door was locked, she climbed out the window, slipped and fell three stories.The girlfriend, Cindy Weaver, 46, died from her injuries 17 days later. Muniz, 49, is now on trial facing second-degree murder charges. The couple had been drinking at a friend’s Mission district home on Folsom Street on Oct. 3, 2008, when Muniz became abusive and accused Weaver of infidelity, prosecutors said.
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San Francisco’s decision to not do a lengthy and costly environmental review of the possible impacts of its ban on plastic bags could imperil the law if a new lawsuit is successful.In 2007, San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban the use of plastic bags in large grocery stores and pharmacies. It expanded the law last month to include a ban on single-use plastic bags at all businesses, including restaurants. And customers who don’t bring reusable bags will have to pay a 10-cent fee for ones merchants provide.
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Prospective jurors in Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s domestic violence trial are being asked to spell out their opinions about domestic violence, their knowledge of the highly publicized case and whether a top law enforcement official accused of a crime should be held to a higher standard.A jury pool of about 200 was convened Wednesday afternoon and given a nine-page questionnaire to fill out by trial Judge Garrett Wong. The judge also told the group not to do any research on the case, warning that he had in the past fined jurors $1,000 for disobeying a court order.
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It was a case of forbidden love that nearly cost a young man life behind bars.Instead, the ill-fated plan of a man apparently so love-struck by an underage girl that he plotted to kill her mother after she tried to break them up landed him a 10-year prison sentence for attempted murder. Angel Euceda, 22, was sentenced in San Francisco Superior Court on Monday after pleading guilty to stabbing the mother on Dec. 16, 2010, in this real-life version of “Romeo and Juliet.”
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A San Francisco man has sued the Police Department in federal court, accusing a Richmond District officer of fracturing his neck with a punch to the face after an arrest last year.The excessive force lawsuit, filed Friday by Erik Russell, 44, names Officer Damien Reyes and is seeking $4 million.A police spokesman declined comment on the pending litigation.Police arrested Russell for public intoxication after he staggered out of a Clement Street bar after 10 p.m. on Aug. 16, 2011, according to a police report.
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Statements by Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s wife, Eliana Lopez, to a neighbor the day after an alleged New Year’s Eve domestic violence incident, and a video the neighbor made of a tearful Lopez discussing a bruise on her arm, can be admitted by prosecutors at trial, a judge ruled Monday.Judge Garrett Wong’s ruling was a huge victory for the prosecution, especially because Lopez later publicly denied there was any abuse and may refuse to testify. Mirkarimi’s attorneys said they were disappointed by the ruling but pledged to push forward and win the case at trial.
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A judge ruled Monday that the statements of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s wife to neighbor Ivory Madison the day after an alleged New Year’s Eve domestic violence incident, as well as a video made by Madison of a tearful Lopez showing a bruise on her arm and discussing the incident, can be admitted by prosecutors at trial. Judge Garrett Wong’s ruling is a huge victory for the prosecution, especially because Lopez later publicly denied there was any abuse and may refuse to testify.
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Richard Sprague was a peaceful, loving and selfless man who was simply trying to buy a pack of cigarettes before he was left to die on a Mission district side street early on a recent weekend morning.Sprague’s partner and also his sister, who are both still trying to come to grips with the callous killing Feb. 19, spoke Sunday with The San Francisco Examiner.“He truly was the most caring person I have ever known,” said David Nielsen, 59, Sprague’s partner of 20 years. “He’s not the kind of person that would want a fight.”
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A no-nonsense former criminal defense attorney and civil lawyer-turned judge, with a reputation as a knowledgeable though occasionally prickly jurist, will preside over the domestic violence trial of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi.Judge Garrett Wong, the former head of the court’s domestic violence department who now handles behavioral and mental health cases, was named Mirkarimi’s trial judge on Friday, and is expected to hear pretrial arguments this morning on crucial issues that could make or break the case.
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Phuc Van Le, 44, was acquitted of murder Thursday after testifying that he brandished a kitchen knife to ward off two men who refused to leave his apartment in the early morning of Feb. 6, 2010, the Public Defender’s Office said.“This is a case of a man who was forced to defend himself against a pair of assailants who attacked him with broken bottles,” Le’s attorney, Manohar Raju, said in a statement.
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Police are looking for a driver who allegedly ran a red light in the Financial District early this morning and broadsided another vehicle, killing its occupant.The collision happened just before 3:30 a.m. at California and Battery streets, police spokesman Sgt. Daryl Fong said.A vehicle traveling southbound on Battery ran the red light at California, smashing into the driver’s side of a Lincoln Town Car going eastbound on California, according to Fong. Medics pronounced the victim dead at the scene, he said.
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Prosecutors Friday fired back at defense attorneys for Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi – arguing that the statements of Mirkarimi’s allegedly battered wife Eliana Lopez were admissible at trial – in a court filing that included photographs of a clearly distraught Lopez displaying a large bruise on her arm.
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The domestic violence trial of Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was assigned to a judge Friday morning, the first step in what could be a few days of very crucial pretrial motions on what evidence will be admitted.
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