Easter Sunday assault is latest violent Castro incident

A man is facing felony assault charges after being arrested at a major Castro intersection just as the neighborhood thronged with people on a busy Easter Sunday. The incident is the latest in a string of recent altercations in the LGBTQ neighborhood.

Andrew Davais, 34, is in San Francisco County Jail. Davais, who has 18 prior criminal cases, according to gay Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman, is facing a charge of assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury after allegedly punching a man in the face at Castro and Market streets just before 6 p.m. Sunday.

The Castro was busy April 20 as crowds had just left Mission Dolores Park following the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s Easter celebration. Celebrations for 4/20 (cannabis) and the Cherry Blossom Festival were also taking place in the city.

The San Francisco District Attorney’s office stated that Davais was arraigned April 23, and its intention to move to keep him in custody. A DA spokesperson stated that, "Mr. Davais allegedly walked up to the victim, who was standing with his wife at Castro Street and Market Street, wound his arm back and then punched the victim’s face without provocation. The victim fell backwards to the ground, striking his head and sustaining multiple injuries. Allegedly, Mr. Davais walked away while holding a skateboard and trash bags."

San Francisco Police Department Public Information Officer Paulina Henderson stated to the Bay Area Reporter that after receiving a call about the assault, “Officers arrived on scene and located a victim being treated by paramedics. The victim appeared to have injuries associated with a possible assault. The victim was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”

Patrick McCabe, a gay man who lives in the Castro, had called 911. He was in a car with his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s father following an Easter lunch. The two were about to be dropped off at home.

“We stopped at the light there, at Castro and Market [streets], and we all just see there’s a couple standing there, a man and a woman, and we see a guy approach the man and punch him in the face and he instantly collapses,” McCabe told the B.A.R. “She hunches over him and starts screaming some. A couple seconds after, he [the boyfriend] pulled out his phone and started videotaping. … We pretty much instantly decided we were going to follow him until the police came.”

The dispatch told McCabe they should stop following, but McCabe felt that if the suspect “were to speed walk somewhere, there were so many people out that day it could have been anyone.”

McCabe and the others stayed on the line with the police dispatch while the man they saw throw the punch made his way to Moby Dick, an LGBTQ bar on 18th Street, where they saw him speak to the doorman.

That doorman, Alan Alvarez, told the B.A.R. that around that time someone “came up and started threatening me.”

“I was standing out the door and blowing bubbles and he comes up to me and says, ‘You shouldn’t be saying what you said because I’ll knock you the fuck out,’” Alvarez said. “I said, ‘You need to keep walking. You need to leave, or else.’

“Mind you, his eyes were red, he just seemed a little off, and I just kept telling him to go,” Alvarez continued. “You’re not going to come here and threaten me or talk to our staff like that.”

The man later told Alvarez, “You keep talking that shit, I’m going to knock your ass out. You should ask the other guy,” the doorman recalled.

Later, after more words were exchanged, the man did leave.

Henderson stated that, “Officers canvassing the area located a suspect matching the description provided and detained the male near [the] area of Noe and 18th streets without further incident. Through the course of the investigation, officers were advised that the victim was assaulted by the suspect unprovoked.”

Dave Burke, a straight ally who’s the SFPD public safety liaison to District 8 (which includes the Castro), expressed his gratitude toward McCabe and his boyfriend.

“They’re very in the community and really care,” Burke said. “They were instrumental in figuring out where he was and we’re in their debt. It’s great to have community people who give a damn.”

Mandelman is District 8’s representative on the board. He called the attack “alarming and infuriating” in a statement.

“The news that the suspect had 18 prior criminal cases confirms people’s worst suspicion that San Francisco and California are failing to do what we need to do to keep our neighborhoods safe and dangerous people off our streets,” Mandelman stated April 21. “I have supported and continue to support Mayor [Daniel] Lurie’s efforts to restore order in some of our more troubled neighborhoods. However, it seems plain to me that these efforts have led to the displacement of people with severe mental health and substance abuse challenges to the Castro. This cannot continue.”

As the B.A.R. previously reported, the Lurie administration has concentrated efforts thus far at Sixth Street, South of Market, and Civic Center Plaza. Lurie told the B.A.R. last month that he wants to do the same in the Castro; however, the city’s forthcoming budget crunch may complicate matters.

Lurie told the B.A.R. last week that no final decisions have been made, but if that happens, “This is a city that’s capable of doing a lot more, and we’ve been doing it in the past and we’ve proven that over the first few months with these crime stats continuing to go down. We have to do more with less, we will, and we’re learning along the way from places like the Sixth Street Mobile Triage, like what we’ve done on 16th and Mission. We should apply those learnings to every place in this city.”

Mandelman didn’t return a request for comment as to whether there will be a town hall on safety in the Castro relatively soon.

Mandelman told the B.A.R. earlier this month that his office will “probably do a Castro-focused town hall sometime this year.”

Latest incident
This is the latest violent incident in recent weeks on or near the 400 block of Castro Street. Last month, a bouncer at The Mix bar was brutally assaulted adjacent to the neighborhood's iconic eponymous theater.

Later in March, a Walgreens employee and an alleged shoplifter were both arrested after a violent confrontation with each other.

McCabe told the B.A.R. that Easter morning he also witnessed an incident at Mollie Stone’s on 18th Street.

“This was the second time I called the police that day,” he said. “There was an altercation between the staff” and someone who was allegedly stealing, McCabe recalled.

The SFPD didn’t immediately return a request for comment regarding that incident.

Henderson stated that, “Although an arrest has been made, this remains an open and active investigation.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.

Updated, 4/23/25: This article has been updated with information from the DA's office.


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