Man Accused In San Francisco Assault Faces New Allegations
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) - The man accused of attacking a woman outside her San Francisco waterfront condo building faced new allegations of wrongdoing Tuesday.
On Monday, The San Francisco Police Department announced that they were not only filing new charges against Austin Vincent, but that they were also investigating several other incidents after being contacted by people saying they too have had encounters with him. This morning, KPIX 5 spoke with one woman who has come forward to police.
"I just kind of glanced up from my phone and accidentally made eye contact with him, and he locked eyes on me. It was, I don't know, it felt very mission oriented after that." It was a Tuesday morning in July just before 10am when the woman we'll call Nicole says she and her mother were followed for several blocks by a man who drew increasingly close to them.
"And so we kind of started to get a little freaked out and we started kind of running," Nicole explained. "And he started running after us. It was at that point that I realized that there was something wrong with him, that he obviously has targeted us for some reason, and is chasing after us down the street. So I ran into a building along Battery Street, and I ran to the security desk. And the man who was following us followed us into the building, followed us right up to the security desk. Security guards had to kind of physically and verbally coax him out of the building."
Last week, amid the news coverage of the attack at the Embarcadero, she received a text from her mother with a photo of Austin Vincent, the man arrested and charged with that attack. Both of them believe he is the same man who chased them down the street.
"So I knew at that point I had to come forward and at least make an official statement with the police. just to help in anyway that I could," Nicole says. She and her mother called 911 at the time, but did not file a report. Now, police are reviewing that incident.
Austin Vincent was back in court Tuesday afternoon for hearings on both the Embarcadero attack, and the charges filed Monday in connection with the February incident on Brannan Street. The charges against Vincent in that case include the use of a knife. The victims in that case also contacted police again after seeing Vincent's mugshot in the media.
Today a public defender argued that Vincent, since he has not violated any court orders since his first arrest, should be released from custody and back into his treatment program. Judge Christine Van Aken denied that request, ordering him held without bail until his next court hearing, now scheduled for September 3rd. In that hearing, prosecutors are expected to ask that the two complaints against vincent be consolidated.
