A man accused of throwing a bottle at a police officer following the San Francisco Giants’ World Series win last October has been acquitted of all charges, according to the public defender’s office.
Jusef Nathan, 34, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and assault on a police officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury for the incident early on Oct. 29 near 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Nathan was one of thousands of Giants fans who took to the streets to celebrate following the World Series-clinching win on Oct. 28, according to the public defender’s office.
Shortly after midnight, an officer saw a man with a dark jacket with gray stripes on the sleeves throw a bottle toward police. The bottle shattered on the ground and did not injure anyone, public defender’s officials said.
About 20 minutes later, the same officer spotted Nathan, who was wearing a similar-looking jacket, urinating against a building and arrested him on suspicion of throwing the bottle, according to the public defender’s office.
During the weeklong trial, a surveillance video shown to jurors apparently contradicted testimony from officers at the scene about the bottle-thrower’s location, according to the public defender’s office.
Nathan was in custody for the entire eight-month term between his arrest and acquittal.
“The jurors were able to ascertain that there was no reliable evidence against Mr. Nathan,” Public Defender Jeff Adachi said in a statement. “It is tragic that this baseball fan, who wanted only to celebrate his home team’s historic win, spent eight months in jail for a crime he did not commit.”
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
