Man Who Body Slammed SF Mayor's Police Guard Faces Assault Charges: DA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — A man who authorities say injured one of Mayor Daniel Lurie's bodyguards during a scuffle in San Francisco on Thursday has been charged in connection with the incident, according to prosecutors.

Tony Shervaughn Phillips, 44, is facing one count each of resisting an executive officer, with an allegation that he personally inflicted great bodily injury on the victim, assault on a peace officer with force likely to cause great bodily injury, and one count of violating a court stay-away order, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors say Phillips was among a group of people sitting on a curb with their legs extended out into the street in the area of Larkin and Cedar streets around 5:30 p.m.

Lurie and two San Francisco Police Officers working as a security detail approached the area in a car, but were blocked from getting through due to the group of people, and another man physically blocking the street, authorities said.

Lurie and the officers got out of the car to try and get the group to clear the roadway, authorities said, and that's when Phillips became combative and stepped towards them, authorities said.

An officer got between Lurie and Phillips, who responded by calling the officer "Bruce Lee" and threatening to fight him, prosecutors said.

To create space between them, the officer pushed Phillips, who fell to the ground, prosecutors said.

Phillips then got back up and rushed at the officer, picking him up at some point and then slamming him into the ground, prosecutors said.

The officer suffered a concussion as a result of the slam, along with a large head laceration, prosecutors said. A video of the altercation, which garnered much attention on social media last week, shows an officer grappling with a man, presumably Phillips.

Another man who got involved in the tussle and refused to get back was also taken into custody and charged with resisting, delaying, and obstructing a peace officer, authorities said.

The San Francisco Department of Police Accountability, the city's independent police watchdog agency, has launched its own investigation into the altercation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.