SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — The San Francisco Police Department is going on record with their side of what happened to a hot dog vendor seen in a viral video Sunday morning, on the ground, being detained with her wailing child nearby. SFPD says the original clip was “orchestrated” by the vendors. However, new video coming to light shines a slightly different picture of events in this complicated situation.
That new cellphone video shows the moment a port employee tells a crying 5-year-old girl to “get back” while her mother struggles to hold onto her hot dog cart. It’s a new look at a situation that unfolded at around 10:30 a.m. at Pier 33 along the Embarcadero.
The original clip shows the single-mother Ana Luisa Casimir Julca on the ground, being detained by police as her daughter wails nearby.
SFPD posted on X Tuesday night that the viral clip did not match reality. They added, it was orchestrated by illegal vendors and cited a witness who claims “someone in the group told the girl to start crying near officers to manipulate the situation.”
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“I have a video that shows me telling my daughter to move away, stay over there,” says Casimir Julca, who was taken into custody only after police say she attacked a port employee. It’s hard to tell in the new clip, but SFPD says she “hip and arm checked” a port worker.
“No, no, I did not hit the cops, the port or anyone. The only thing I was doing was to avoid them taking my cart,” she says.
SFPD tells ABC7 News anchor Dion Lim the Vending Enforcement Task Force alerted the vendors at Pier 33 and hour earlier that they needed to vacate the area. When they returned, the vendors were still there.
SFPD provided ABC7 News a statement saying “officers, multiple times tried to avoid putting handcuffs on…(they) worked to de-escalate the situaton and officers had no choice.”
In the meantime, Casimir Julca’s cart is still confiscated and as a new immigrant from Peru, she’s worried about her ability to provide for daughter Luciana.
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An investigation is now underway into a San Francisco Public Works employee caught on video knocking over a hot dog vendor’s cart.
“Latinos, we came here to work hard for the American Dream. I work Monday through Sunday for my daughter,” Casimir Julca says.
The Department of Public Health holds hearings where vendors can seek to recover their confiscated items.
When asked what Casimir Julca wants to come out of this situation –
“To bring some awareness, to let there be anticipation that they’re coming,” she says.
The Mission District Vendors Association is currently helping Casimir Julca with an attorney and help getting her vending cart back.
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