'Knucklehead' celebrators run amok
Will Kane and Neal J. Riley - San Francisco Chronicle
Updated 6:58 p.m., Monday, October 29, 2012
(10-29) 18:48 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- People celebrating the Giants' World Series win torched a $700,000 Muni bus, flipped cars and burned piles of garbage across San Francisco during an early morning vandalism outburst that left 36 suspects arrested and city officials shaking their heads in disgust Monday.
"Knuckleheads" is what Mayor Ed Lee called those who lurched from barstools and living rooms across the city and took the celebrations too far.
"Those are hoodlums that had to be arrested," Lee said. "They tried to destroy, I think, the peacefulness and exuberance of 10,000 people on the streets. That's an unfortunate aspect that our police had to deal with. ... But I'm not going to let the spirit of this city be destroyed by 36 people."
The spirit appeared in good shape Monday evening when several hundred fans cheered the Giants, fresh from their Series-clinching victory in Detroit, as they rolled up to AT&T Park in a bus caravan, World Series trophy in tow.
The cheering grew to a roar when closer Sergio Romo emerged from a bus at 5 p.m. with the trophy over his shoulder and outfielder Hunter Pence strolled through the crowd giving high-fives.
The players mugged around with the trophy for a few minutes, then disappeared into the ballpark and back out again, leaving in their private vehicles.
Some fans who waited for hours - the team was scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m. - said they were disappointed that the players didn't stay to chat or sign autographs.
Hours earlier, police had their own crowd to deal with in the Mission District, one that was considerably less good-natured.
Officers arrested 34 people after celebrators set an estimated 70 garbage fires and refused to disperse. Two others were arrested in the South of Market.
Of those arrested, 23 were booked on suspicion of felonies including arson, firearms violations and assault on a police officer. Thirteen were booked on misdemeanors, including failure to disperse.
"The Giants won and there was great cause for celebration," said Officer Gordon Shyy, a police spokesman. "But once the real fans headed home, unfortunately a certain element remained behind and that's when things became ugly."
The worst damage was caused by a group that waylaid an 8X Bayshore Express bus near Third and Market streets around 12:30 a.m. and lit the coach on fire.
The eight passengers and the driver escaped injury when they fled from the bus, Muni spokesman Paul Rose said.
Muni spent $300,000 recently to spiff up the old bus, Rose said. Repairs could cost far more than that, he said.
Other buses were dented and tagged with graffiti by revelers, some of whom climbed on top of the coaches.
In the Mission, fans fed street bonfires with mattresses, furniture, plastic trash cans and even a parking meter. Revelers jumped through the flames and set off firecrackers.
Firefighters refused to put out the flames until police officers were able to clear out dozens of revelers hurling glass bottles at first responders. Two officers suffered minor cuts from the flying glass.
"Two world championships in three years is worthy of celebration," said Police Chief Greg Suhr. "But then at some point in time, after the original understandable celebration, comes the almost mystifying belief that some people can just come and trash San Francisco."
Prosecutors said they would seek convictions for everyone arrested.
"In these kinds of situations, we will prosecute," said Stephanie Ong Stillman, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. "It's one thing to celebrate a Giants victory and it's another to destroy property and impact public safety with your actions."
San Francisco Chronicle staff writers Vivian Ho, John Coté, and Jaxon Van Derbeken contributed to this report.
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