Saving San Francisco: Ep. 5 'Why Should I Live in Fear?'

[Music] i like a good mystery i think i was 12 when the first bond came out and i have been a fan since seeing that first james bond followed closely by indiana jones which is a similar bad guy adventure i'm like addicted to adventure my name is edie silver walker i live in san francisco and have been here for 23 years one day i was walking down clement street did a little shopping stop to get a baked good at a chinese bakery always a treat while i was there i just pulled out my phone and saw a crime and safety alert from the app next door it was a very vivid image of a man with piercing blue eyes kind of troubled blue eyes a federal warrant was issued today for his arrest he is homeless and often wears layers of clothing including skirts dresses and jeans and hats [Music] so that was that i proceeded down a block and a half kind of strolling looking and i looked in a doorway on my right and basically locked eyes with those eyes and it was just the look in the eyes the expression it wasn't just the eyes it was the expression surrounding the eyes kind of intense eyes and so we connected and i kept it cool i think but in my head i'm like i just saw him [Music] after i passed him i did the old forgot something kind of maneuver walked by again so he was on my left and just kind of looked in and confirmed it was him and then discreetly ducked into a doorway at a restaurant and called the sfpd and they went over and identified him and came back and told me he was apprehended police chief william scott commended me and thanked me i helped them id a very wanted fugitive who did that man end up being his name is james durgan [Music] he had federal marshals trying to find him my post on next door was the reason he was caught [Music] that was about three years ago and since then we know james jurgen has been arrested and released several more times but even when he's in jail and rey feels like she can't escape him she says it's like she's always forced to think about him worry about him wonder when he might be back [Music] when i tell people how many restraining orders he has and what he's done it's hard to believe over the past two decades there have been at least 16 restraining orders including ants it just actually makes a difference that's why you want to do it and her home also doubles as her office and teaches online classes for artists showing them how to sell their work the fact is you have made progress here so she spends most of her days home alone and scared [Music] she's attended more than a dozen of james durgan's criminal hearings and she often gives a statement to the judge we haven't been allowed to record audio in court so anne re-read one of her messages for us if you release him yet again the park police and i know that he will immediately return to stalking me please break this cycle once and for all please anne is convinced her pleas to the judge and district attorney will never be enough to keep james durgan locked up he's repeatedly been set free on the condition he complete drug rehab but time after time james has removed his ankle monitor and walked out and even when he's eventually caught and re-arrested the court releases him all over again in hopes he'll eventually follow through with the treatment it's scary it's alarming and the thing is what is really scary is that people just don't even know how bad it is it's like their crimes just evaporate like it didn't happen like they're they pose no risk and it makes no sense the d.a and the judge make no sense district attorney chaisa boudin ran on a platform of ending mass incarceration and in the two years since he took office san francisco's jail population has dropped 30 percent that is in part due to new safety protocols to minimize overcrowding during the pandemic but boudin's own policies have focused on giving accused criminals alternatives to jail in fact defendants in 30 of criminal cases have been able to avoid charges by completing what are known as diversionary programs which can include job training and drug treatment and that's exactly how james durgan has been able to avoid going to trial on his most recent charges which include accusations of violence each time he's been released from jail james has ditched rehab only to wind up back on the streets and ultimately behind bars there's no limit on how many times a person can mess up when it comes to diversion programs it's all up to the judge chase the d.a says enrollment in diversion can lessen the chances of someone reoffending but his progressive policies have made him a polarizing figure in san francisco [Applause] boudin's opponents have collected enough signatures to force him into a recall election this june accusing him of being too soft on crime that's put him at odds with the police chief and the mayor do you have faith the district attorney is doing everything he can to keep the city safe um i think you're going to have to ask him that but i'm asking you do you have faith in what he's doing i am not necessarily on the same page with a number of things that he's doing that doesn't sound like an endorsement of his office well we are trying to work together but there's some challenges his critics feel like he's been too lenient on criminals do you have similar concerns about his office i think that there's been too much focus on the perpetrators of some of the violent crimes and we need to start concentrating more on supporting the victims of this city than we are supporting in some cases sadly the criminals so if the city's top leaders can't seem to agree on how to fight crime where does that leave james durgan and his victim ann ray we took that question to the d.a himself you have a victim in this case who fears for her life and thinks your office isn't doing enough there is no doubt that in some cases regardless of who the suspect is regardless of who the person who caused the harm or use the violence is that the tools at our disposal as prosecutors for judges for police for sheriffs in many instances those tools are inadequate to fully address the societal harm to help people heal or to prevent future problems the d.a says a lack of treatment options and housing are partly to blame but local prosecutors aren't the only ones who can charge james durgan some of his alleged crimes were committed in the presidio which is federal land that means the department of justice also has jurisdiction over what happens here the us attorney's office has been completely useless they've known about durgan for years and they have chosen to not do a damn thing despite months of our repeated requests the u.s attorney's office wouldn't comment federal prosecutors have charged james durkin before with burglary and violating anne's restraining order but after james served his time he came back to the presidio right to anne's front door after one of his many arrests james durgan was questioned in jail by investigators from the u.s park police department according to court documents a detective asked james did you know you were violating ann rey's restraining order i don't care i knew what the law was he replied the detective also asked how many times have you entered the presidio a bunch of times james said and it's just gonna get worse and he just is gonna be more aggressive and we don't know what he's gonna do so anne is taking matters into her own hands i'm having this panic button installed which will emit a very loud sound when he appears in front of my door and this light will start flashing so hopefully it will startle him if he's not too high on meth that is i have cameras i have a taser and i have a single blade knife somebody taught me like if he comes into the bedroom lean up against the wall and use that as sort of leverage and then hold on to this let him fall on the knife and then gut him [Music] james durgan is back in jail this time he's been here for nearly 200 days in part for once again violating the restraining order and rey filed against him for weeks we asked for an interview with james but he kept turning us down hi james that is until today who is ann ray uh ow in the jailhouse with jimmy next time on saving san francisco she's convinced you're obsessed with her to use do you remember showing up to her house naked one night [Music] you

Channel: NBC Bay Area

Views: 38,743

Keywords: saving san francisco, san francisco, san francisco housing, san francisco crime, san francisco homeless, san francisco mental health, what happened to san francisco, why are there so many homeless in san francisco, whats wrong with san francisco, san francisco problems, sf homeless, sf housing, saving sf, what happened to sf, nbc bay area, bigad shaban, san francisco news, bay area news, san francisco streets, sf crime, san francisco california, san francisco 2022

Id: HZGNGJ-bIL4

Length: 10min 25sec (625 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 28 2022