Fight over loud music turns 
deadly in San Francisco

       Bay City News Report

            Wednesday, February 5, 2003

                  A fight over loud music in San Francisco's Mission

                  District early this morning has left one man dead and

                  another injured, according to police.

                  Inspector Holly Pera reported that the fight broke out

                  at 12:50 a.m. in front of 3316 22nd St. near Valencia

                  Street.

                  "A resident was awakened from sound sleep by the

                  sound of a car radio blaring. He let it go for several

                  songs, and decided to go down and just tell the man

                  to turn the music down,'' Pera said.

                  The legally parked 1991 silver Buick Regal was

                  blasting a combination of rap and hip-hop music.

                  When the resident approached the car, the man

                  inside got out of the car and "one thing led to

                  another,'' Pera said.

                  The two men exchanged words and then blows,

                  tumbling to the ground where they continued to throw

                  punches. After a couple of minutes, "the (man from

                  the car) rolled over and that was the end of the fight,"

                  said Pera.

                  The resident continued to restrain the man by lying

                  on top of him. Two people walking home from a

                  restaurant and club in the area saw the two men in

                  the street and stopped to help the resident restrain

                  the other man, who eventually ceased struggling.

                  Paramedics were called, and the man who had been

                  playing the music was pronounced dead at the

                  scene.

 

                  Pera said no cause of death has been determined,

                  and police do not plan to make an arrest at this time.

                  "We will wait for the medical examiner's report before

                  we do anything further,'' she said.

                  Original reports from police indicated that the incident

                  was a stabbing, because the deceased man had a

                  key in his hand during the fight and was punching the

                  resident with the key protruding from between his

                  knuckles.

                  Pera said the resident "has a number of puncture

                  wounds and a number of linear wounds that suggest

                  something was scraped across him.'' The resident

                  was treated for his wounds and released.

                  Police who interviewed witnesses at the scene

                  received varying accounts about which man started

                  and then escalated the fight, according to Pera.

                  The man playing the music has not yet been

                  identified, and police are not releasing the name of
                  the resident.