Streetlight was burned out night of vicious rape

What does it take to get a burned-out City streetlight replaced? How about a vicious rape.

A streetlight at 24th and Fair Oaks was burned out the night of a violent rape that sent a woman to the hospital and left a sidewalk splattered with blood.

Andy Segal, president of the Fair Oaks Community Coalition, told SFBay after Wednesday’s community meeting at St. James Church that the streetlight had been burned out “for a while,” and that neighbors had reported the burned out streetlight without response from The City, PG&E, or the Public Utilities Commission.

“It was definitely out the night of the attack,” Segal said. He lives five doors down from where last Thursday’s attack took place. Segal describes Fair Oaks street as a tight-knit community that holds an annual block sale and Halloween event.

Supervisor Scott Wiener also said that the light was not operating the night of the attack. The streetlight was hurriedly fixed by PG&E Monday morning, after being contacted by Wiener’s office.

PG&E and the PUC operate the streetlights in The City. This light was a PG&E light, according to PG&E’s Ontario Smith. He said Supervisor Wiener’s office reported the burned-out light to PG&E at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning. The light was fixed by 11:30 a.m., Smith said.

PG&E and PUC representatives reminded people at Wednesday’s meeting to call ‘311’ in The City to report any burned-out streetlights.

Smith, Wiener and Segal all spoke Wednesday night at a community meeting regarding two violent rapes along the 24th Street corridor in San Francisco. About 200 people turned out for the event, which was liveblogged by SFBay.

Police also released a surveillance video of a person they say is the suspect in the Fair Oaks rape.

Jesse Garnier

Jesse Garnier is the editor and founder of SFBay. A Mission District native, he also teaches journalism as associate professor at San Francisco State University.