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San Francisco Homeless Man Helps Save Gas Station Clerk From Strangler

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- Jesse Green, a homeless man cleaning windshields at the Shell station on San Francisco's Turk Street, acted quickly last Sunday around 9:15 a.m. when a man suddenly started choking the female clerk inside.

Jesse immediately started rounding up others to help.

"I said, 'come here, come here, come here' and he came in and he said, 'Oh my God ... you're serious, right?' Green said.

In the surveillance video, you can see a third man jump in to help as well.

"Older guy. White guy. He hit him a couple of times and he said, 'you can't be doing this.'" Green said.

Meanwhile, the suspect, 30-year old Brian Holste, of Stockton, still had the woman in a stranglehold. Holste had visited the store earlier and then came back 20 minutes later, according to police.

The attack was unprovoked.

Green said the woman was dark-skinned and her face was purple.

The Good Samaritans eventually wrestled the suspect's arms away, forcing him to let her go. The suspect was forced to release her and then just left, Green said.

KPIX 5 spoke to the clerk briefly Monday night. She said she didn't want to talk about this on camera.

Green says she was very shaken up.

"She cried for … a long time. And she said, thank you," Green said.

Police arrested Holste on nearby Franklin Street. He was jailed, charged with aggravated assault and burglary.

San Francisco police are sending out a special thank you to the Good Samaritans who likely saved the clerk's life.

"We got her free, that's all," Green said.

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