San Francisco gallery owner soaks homeless woman with hose: video

The owner of a San Francisco art gallery is being humiliated after he was caught on viral video spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose.

Collier Gwin, the owner of the Foster Gwin Gallery in the California city’s upscale Jackson Square neighborhood, admitted to gutting the woman to get her off the sidewalk on Monday.

However, the gallery owner insisted that the entire community has failed her.

“The whole neighborhood is part of this situation,” Gwin told NBC Bay Area News.

“The police force is part of this situation. The city and social services are part of the situation. There have been repeated attempts to help this woman who is psychotic,” he continued.

“There is absolutely nothing that can be done. They will take him to a shelter and let him out in two days. They will take him to the hospital, they will release him within a day”.

But the video – which was first posted on TikTok before being widely shared on Twitter, garnering thousands of views – drew the ire of critics online.

San Francisco art gallery owner Collier Gwin has gone viral after he was caught on video bathing a homeless woman with a garden hose on Monday. Twitter / @briochesf Gwin claimed there have been repeated attempts to help this woman, but the community has failed her.Twitter / @briochesf

“I don’t care how frustrated someone is, that’s not how human beings treat other human beings,” San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, whose district includes the gallery, told the San Francisco Chronicle .

“It’s unconscionable,” he said. “It’s abuse.”

Others on social media were also outraged.

“If housing is a human right, then discrimination and violence against someone bc of their housing status is a violation of human rights, right?” Twitter user Brittni wrote.

“Collier Gwin is a vigilante and should be prosecuted for assault unless the city owns up to it and wants to see similar actions,” she said.

The footage shows Gwin splashing the woman, later identified as “Cora”, as she screams.

“Are you going to move?” Gwin is heard shouting. “Move”.

San Francisco art gallery owner Collier Gwin says he bathed a homeless woman with a sock because he’s frustrated authorities haven’t been able to do anything. Twitter / @tjcrowley

Edson Galvez, who posted the video online, told NBC he was stunned.

“I started recording the guy and this guy is like pouring water on plants,” he said. “And then I saw the lady like that, and I said, ‘Oh no! This is a lady.

“Ok, that lady is out of business,” said Galvez, co-owner of the nearby Brioche Cafe.

“She sleeps on the street, but she’s very quiet, yes. I was putting a room in the parking meter and it was going by.”

Still, Galvez admitted he could “understand both sides.”

“I feel sorry for the tenant, I feel sorry for the lady. But the police had come out once and he said there was nothing they could do,” the local said.

Police reportedly responded to the scene after the incident, but Gwin was unresponsive, according to the NBC report.