5:00pm: The trapped worker has been freed. He was in some pain after being removed. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital for treatment. Here’s a full wrapup from the Examiner.

4:21pm: There are about 75 rescue personnel on scene plus about 30 media, including helicopters. Rescue workers have boxed off an area around the man who is trapped but each time they try to move him, more sand falls into the area, making it difficult to remove him.

The worker, who appears to be in his mid-30s, is still conscious but medical personnel are concerned about possible hypothermia and acid poisoning, which can set in when heavy pressure is placed on one part of the body.

2:24pm: A retaining wall collapsed this afternoon at 38 West Clay Street here in the Richmond District, trapping a worker.

The San Francisco Fire Department is on the scene, digging into the ditch to clear debris and remove pieces of the wall to get at the trapped man.

KCBS reports that the construction worker is buried up to his waist, but is talking with rescue workers. He is also receiving oxygen and fluids.

SFFD have been working for a just over an hour and expect to free the trapped man soon. It’s unknown whether he has suffered any injuries.

More updates as they come in; I should have photos from the scene a bit later today.

Sarah B.

Special thanks to David H. for the reporting and photos.

The collapsed trench at the back of the house which is having foundation work done. Rescue
workers placed wood around the edges of where the man was trapped to prevent
more sand and debris from falling in around him.

Rescue workers on the scene

The emergency vehicles on site

Some of you also asked why their were helicopters overhead during the rescue mission. Media was unable to get any good footage from the ground, so they sent their choppers up. Here’s what NBC captured:

KCBS reports that around 6:40 this morning, three people were attacked by dogs in Golden Gate Park in the area of John F. Kennedy Drive and Transverse Drives, near Lloyd Lake.

The victims sustained bite on their legs. All three were taken to the hospital to treat their injuries which did not appear to be life threatening.

One dog, a boxer, was captured by animal control and another, a bulldog mix approximately 60-70 pounds, was shot in the head with a shotgun by a police officer. He did not die on the scene and was taken away for treatment.

No one has come forward to declare ownership of the dogs.

Get all the facts from the Examiner

VIDEO:
Captain Richard Correia talks to CBS5
Video of dog capture from CBS5

Firemen were called to a one-alarm fire Wednesday morning at 706 17th Avenue near Cabrillo. A neighbor called 911 after seeing flames.

Firefighters entered the residence where they quickly extinguished the flames, which were mostly limited to the kitchen. It was there that they found an elderly man dead. He has not been identified by authorities.

Cause of death is still unknown but fire investigators said it did not look suspicious.

[Via SF Examiner, SFAppeal]

Director John Waters (in the awesome blazer) with the staff at Green Apple Books. May 28, 2010

The crew at Green Apple had a movie legend in their midst today. Film director John Waters was at the store to sign copies of his new book, Role Models, a collection of profiles of the director’s favorite personalities. More from the Green Apple website:

Role Models is, in fact, a self-portrait told through intimate profiles of favorite personalities—some famous, some unknown, some criminal, some surprisingly middle-of-the-road. From Esther Martin, owner of the scariest bar in Baltimore, to the playwright Tennessee Williams; from the atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair to the insane martyr Saint Catherine of Siena; from the English novelist Denton Welch to the timelessly appealing singer Johnny Mathis—these are the extreme figures who helped the author form his own brand of neurotic happiness.

Don’t you just love his expression in that photo?! If you want one of the autographed copies of his book, stop by Green Apple Books at 506 Clement Street or call them at 387-2272 to reserve one.

Sarah B.

Last Sunday afternoon near the Cliff House, diners and wait staff at the restaurant noticed a sailboat in distress in the waters below. Rescue crews later recovered two bodies from the accident.

The man and woman were married couple Jeffrey Easterling, 59, and Beth Easterling, 50, of El Sobrante, California. Jeffrey Easterling was an experienced sailor who had been piloting his 33 foot boat, the Barcarolle, for more than 25 years.

Friends of the couple told the Chronicle that he was very safety conscious. “He was a very good sailor and a very careful sailor,” said Bonnie Russell, who first went sailing aboard the Barcarolle in the 1980s. “Jeff always conducted person-overboard drills, and was always very, very careful.”

The couple had been planning a longer sailing trip to Cabo San Lucas. To prepare, they embarked on their first sailing trip outside the Bay which was new territory for them and the sailboat.

Mike Tryon, the commodore of Richmond’s Marina Bay Yacht Club where the Easterlings were members, told SFWeekly, “They had expressed to me how they wanted to go out the Gate [out of the bay and into the open ocean] but were a little concerned with doing that.”

Beth Easterling’s daughter, Gina Ortolan, said the couple’s Sunday sail to Pillar Point, on the San Mateo County coast, was a test run in preparation for the longer trip. It’s believed that they left Pillar Point around noon. At roughly 4:30pm, diners and the wait staff at the Cliff House first noticed the capsized Barcarolle.

By that point, no one was aboard and when the Coast Guard reached the boat, the sails were still set and some of the boat’s windows were smashed.

Rescuers recovered Beth Easterling’s body from Seal Rock and later called off the search for her husband due to darkness. For a time, rescuers thought there might have been a third person on board, but family and friends later confirmed the Easterlings had no other passengers on board.

The next morning, Jeffrey Easterling’s body washed ashore at Ocean Beach near Balboa Street and the Barcarolle was recovered from Eagle’s Point near China Beach where it crashed.

Sean Santana witnessed the boat crashing into Eagle’s Point, and in the video below, describes it washing ashore. He notes that the autopilot mechanism was still engaged on the boat.

Authorities do not yet know why the Easterlings fell or were swept overboard, though the high winds on Sunday were likely a contributing factor. Neither was wearing a life jacket when their bodies were recovered.

Jeffrey and Beth Easterling had only been married for five years. Both loved sailing and went out on the Bay any chance they could.

Sarah B.

KCBS NEWS – The body of a woman was recovered and two others were believed missing after a boating accident Sunday afternoon in the waters beneath the Cliff House Restaurant in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The accident was reported at 4:46 p.m. near the restaurant, located at 1090 Point Lobos Ave., after restaurant staff reported seeing a boat with people possibly in distress, Coast Guard Lt. Jr. Grade Jeremy Pichette said.

Rachel Aguirre, a hostess at the restaurant, said a server first saw the boat, which she said appeared to be a small sailboat or other kind of small vessel. The server told Aguirre, who notified authorities.

A 47-foot vessel and helicopter from the Coast Guard responded to the area, while National Park Service rangers and San Francisco fire units also responded to assist with the rescue.

The crew on the Coast Guard vessel tried to call out to the boat, but there appeared to be no one onboard, Pichette said. Soon afterward, another call came from the Cliff House with the report of what appeared to be a kite surfer in the water closer to the shore, he said. That man was rescued and taken to a local hospital.

Coast Guard crews responded to that area and saw what appeared to be two people, a man and woman, in the water. The body of the woman was recovered, and the San Francisco medical examiner’s office was notified of her death, according to Pichette.

The body of the man has not been found, but he was seen by authorities as he fell under the water line, Pichette said.

Read the full story at kcbs.com

UPDATE: The Examiner reports that it was a married couple from Contra Costa County that died in the boating accident. The husband washed ashore early Monday morning on Ocean Beach near Balboa. Authorities now believe they were the only two aboard the vessel.

UPDATE #2: The Examiner reports that Jeffery and Elizabeth Easterling of El Sobrante were identified as the people who died in the accident, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office said.

In other news, a kite surfer was rescued at Ocean Beach and later hospitalized.
Read the full story at The Examiner

This entry was posted today, May 1, on the Richmond District Police Station’s website. For convenience, I have highlighted the new information in this latest update.

In regards to this incident, I know many of you have been commenting and discussing it heavily here on the blog. But I ask that you please do not post information that is unconfirmed or that is rumor. If you have information or hear of other incidents, report them to the police immediately by calling 911 or 553-0123.

Do not leave them here as comments on the blog. It only serves to further alarm other readers and residents and often, they turn out to be false or unfounded.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Sarah B.

Richmond Station Advisory, May 1, 2010
by Captain Richard Corriea

On April 21, 2010 Richmond Station was alerted though a widely circulated email about suspicious activity by a lone adult male at Mountain Lake Park . The email stated the individual had been using his cell phone to take photographs of other people’s children near the park’s play structures. He did not have any children with him and was doing pull ups while wearing casual street clothes. A parent used a cell phone to take a photograph of the subject, which she included with the email. Police were not notified at the time of the incident.

I live in the Richmond; my children are fifth generation Richmond residents, and I take my role as your Police Captain very seriously. Your sense of safety is paramount and that’s why upon receipt of the email we started an investigation. Our intent was to identify the individual, determine if he had violated any laws and ascertain if he presented an actual risk to our community.

On April 26, 2010, plain-clothes officers identified the subject and met with him at his home. While surprised at being the subject of a police investigation, he was cooperative and unguarded. Officers interviewed him and reviewed his background. He allowed officers to examine his cell phone and his laptop computer. I responded to his home and spoke with him. He stated that he hadn’t taken any photographs. He explained that he was looking at his phone’s screen while using the telephone’s stopwatch feature as part of his work out. Such an activity could be perceived as a person taking photographs. Our investigation did not disclose any facts that suggest that the individual had engaged in illegal activity or that he presents a risk to our community. We informed him about signage in the park that prohibits adults from entering the children’s play area except when they are accompanying children.

As for the blog entries concerning “recent sightings” and additional unusual acts reported to police subsequent to April 26, 2010, please remember that we sometimes attach meaning to equivocal facts using previously held beliefs and fears. This tendency works well to protect us all from extreme danger. However, we should be sensitive to those aspects of an observation that are inconsistent past incidents. In both recent reports the individuals were using tripods, video and one explained to those concerned what he was doing. Also, a different vehicle was involved.

The Officers at Richmond Station are available twenty-four hours a day to respond to your calls for service. I think that the many emails, forwarded emails and blog entries during the last week of April were helpful while we as a community sought answers to assuage our fears. As we return to a more general sense of vigilance for all risks, please remember to call 911 immediately anytime you see a person engaging in suspicious activity.

Captain Richard Corriea
Richmond Station

An email sent out this morning by Captain Richard Correia of the Richmond DIstrict Police Station:

On April 21, 2010 Richmond Station was alerted though a widely circulated email about suspicious activity by a lone adult male at Mountain Lake Park . The email stated the individual had been using his cell phone to take photographs of other people’s children near the park’s play structures. He did not have any children with him and was doing pull ups while wearing slacks and a jacket. A parent used a cell phone to take a photograph of the subject, which she included with the email.

The volume of Internet traffic related to this issue was significant and served to raise public awareness about the issue. From the online comments and those we heard at a community meeting, it was apparent that the incident generated a great deal of angst and questions about the level of safety in our community. People were frightened.

Upon receipt of the email we started an investigation. Our intent was to identify the individual, determine if he had violated any laws and ascertain if he presented an actual risk to our community.

On April 26, 2010, plain-clothes officers identified the subject and met with him at his home. While surprised at being the subject of a police investigation, he was cooperative and unguarded. Officers interviewed him and reviewed his background. He allowed officers to examine his cell phone and his laptop computer. He stated that he hadn’t taken any photographs. He explained that he was looking at his phone’s screen while using the telephone’s stop watch feature as part of his work out. Such an activity could be perceived as a person taking photographs.

Our investigation did not disclose any facts that suggest that the individual had engaged in illegal activity or that he presents a risk to our community. We informed him about signage in the park that prohibits adults from entering the children’s play area except when they are accompanying children.

I appreciate your many emails about this incident. I hope that the results of our investigation help to assuage any worries you have had about the safety of children in our community. Please feel free to call or email me if you have any questions.

Captain Richard Corriea
666.8030
Richard.Corriea@sfgov.org