A man who was charged with attacking San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s bodyguard last week is back behind bars after he reportedly violated a court order.
Tony Phillips was involved in a violent scuffle on March 5 involving police officer Joel Aguayo, who was part of Lurie’s security detail.
The incident was captured on video, and showed Aguayo shoving Phillips, a 44-year-old homeless man, into a pile of trash with the mayor beside him.
Judge Sylvia Husing released him from jail last week after determining it was the security detail who “violently attacked” and instigated the confrontation.
Phillips, who is scheduled to appear in court on April 15, pleaded not guilty to felony charges, including resisting an officer, assaulting an officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury, and violating a court-ordered stay-away order.
However, a little over a week after his release, Phillips was accused of violating the court order and booked into San Francisco County Jail on Monday morning, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Cops picked up Phillips and arrested him for alleged violation of a court order while they were checking out homelessness encampments at Larkin and Cedar streets, the paper reported citing the San Francisco Police Department.
According to a police report obtained by the San Francisco Standard, Lurie ordered his security detail to stop near Cedar Street, an alleyway near the troubled Tenderloin district when he “hopped out” of the SUV and confronted a group of homeless people sitting on the sidewalk, asking them to move.
“On whose behalf do I need to move?” asked Phillips, who became “argumentative.”
“I’ll Bruce Lee kick your ass,” he told Aguayo, per the report.
Aguayo suffered cuts to the back of his ahead, bruising to his face and a back injury.
Lurie appeared to address the incident in an Instagram video, saying he walks of the city streets every day because “you can’t solve what you can’t see.”
“I will continue talking to our families, small businesses owners, and residents and staying laser focused on public safety and transforming our approach to homelessness and the behavioral health crisis,” he said.
Phillips was previously arrested on suspicion of murder in 2019 after a stabbing incident, but did not face charges due to lack of evidence.
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