Firefighter on Firefighter
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Firefigher attacks a colleague with wrench, breaking his arm.
Guess which one loses his job.
https://abc7news.com/post/san-francisco-firefighter-describes-brutal-2022-attack-colleague/14945700/
Gabriel Shin has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that asks a basic question. Why was the victim forced out of the San Francisco Fire Department and the suspect still works there?
San Francisco firefighter Robert Mohammad had a family crisis in July 2021; we won't discuss details out of respect for his privacy. But his colleagues were concerned about him.
Former San Francisco firefighter Gabriel Shin told the I-Team, "People offered to cook for him, people offered to work his shifts for free and he rebuffed my offers. But I've never had a conflict with him prior to this."
Six months after that family crisis, firefighter Gabriel Shin tells me Muhammad called to ask who in the firehouse was talking about his private business.
Gabriel Shin: "Robert, I said, I take ownership for speaking about that and you know, because we were concerned for you but I'm not going to tell you who told me. And he said the next time he sees me, he's going to hurt me."
Dan Noyes: "He said that?"
Shin: "Yeah. Well, I mean, he used a pejorative, but yes."
Noyes: "Well, I'd like to know what he said."
Shin: "The next time I see you, I'm going to (beep) you up. That's exactly what he said."
Court records show that, two days after that phone call, Robert Muhammad used a computer at Station 25 to retrieve Shin's work schedule and his home address, and left the station with what's called a "hydrant spanner" - a heavy, brass wrench measuring 15 inches that's used to turn the water on and off. Muhammad drove across the bridge to Shin's home in Oakland and found him out front, sweeping the sidewalk.
"I heard somebody say, 'Are you going to tell me, are you going to tell me who told you?'" Shin said. "And I turned around and I said, 'Robert, what are you doing here?' He said, 'Who are you protecting?' I said, 'I forgot.' And then he reached into his back pocket. He pulled out the large brass spanner, and he started swinging at my head."
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Shin has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the City and County of San Francisco, Robert Muhammad, Chief Jeanine Nicholson and other members of the San Francisco Fire Department for Battery, Assault, Race and Color Discrimination, Disability Discrimination, Retaliation and more. Shin's attorney, James Torres, says Robert Muhammad never faced discipline and never missed a paycheck. "You have an individual that the chief has allowed to continue working all this time, continue drawing taxpayer salary all this time after attempting to murder a fellow firefighter."
The lawsuit also says several of Shin's direct supervisors ordered him to drop the charges, and to not cooperate with the police investigation of the attack.
"The first person called me and said, 'Is there any way we can work this out?' Gabriel Shin said. "The second person called me and said, 'You can't charge him. You know, you've got to drop the charges. That man's got a family.' And of course, I was angry. I said, 'You know, he just tried to kill me.'"
The lawsuit says, "They treated Shin with startling prejudice and Muhammad with baffling favor from the outset because they saw one difference: Shin is Asian and Muhammad is Black." In their answer, the defendants deny each and every allegation.
Still recovering from his injuries and PTSD, Gabriel Shin refused a fire department interrogation which he believed would not be about the attack, but focused on who was talking about Robert Muhammad's family crisis.
"Within days of that, Chief Nicholson and those deputies took away his pay," James Torres said. "They took away his health insurance before he could even recover from those injuries."
