SFPD Arrests Homeless Man Because of His Interview with SF Standard

Convicted killer recently portrayed as victim of Linkage Center’s closing

On November 30th, David Sjostedt, of the SF Standard, published an article on how the clients of the Tenderloin Linkage Center’s closing will be affected.  One of the center’s clients, a “34-year-old Santa Rosa native named Kahlil Keith,” who was smoking meth while he spoke to the SF Standard, said, “It (Linkage Center) saves lives. It saves lives. It saves lives.  A lot of people are going to die; it’s going to be flooded out here with more bullshit.”  

First, Sjostedt should be commended for writing a piece that correctly attributed Kahlil to Santa Rosa.  Undoubtedly, the San Francisco Chronicle and the homeless nonprofits would have grouped Kahlil into their homeless censuses that conclude every unhoused person grew up in San Francisco.  Second, Kahlil is also correct about the bullsh*t.  Especially his, starting with his actual age, which is 43.

Photo from SF Standard November 30, 2022

Kahlil Rahim Keith, DOB: 6/20/79:

The weeping Kahlil presents a sympathetic persona.  But, from the time he was 18, Kahlil had accumulated a Santa Rosa record of misdemeanor charges for disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, petty theft, vandalism, lewd conduct, trespassing, DUI, and a felony conviction for theft. 

On a visit to San Francisco’s UN Plaza in 2009, SFPD arrested Kahlil after he put another man in a headlock, and then rammed the man’s head into a concrete wall.  After the victim collapsed, Kahlil went through the victim’s pockets, robbing him of his possessions.  The arresting SFPD officer testified that Kahlil did not appear to be intoxicated.  Kahlil rationalized the robbery “because of his brother.”   By 2010, Kahlil was on parole and he has been on it since.

·      May 11, 2015: In the mid-2010’s, Catholic Charities formulated a novel way to get homeless off the most tempting Santa Rosa streets by integrating them into a residential home in a quiet neighborhood.  Early in the morning of May 11th, Willie Ray Smith invited Kahlil to watch movies and drink beer in his room at the Catholic Charities’ home.[i]  Allegedly, Smith propositioned Kahlil for oral sex, and Kahlil responded by stabbing Smith in the chest.  Smith stumbled out of the home to the sidewalk and perished.  Kahlil was arrested for murder. 

·      May 2016: In a jury trial, Kahlil was convicted for the voluntary manslaughter of Smith. 

·      June 2016:  A February 2014 interview with Kahlil appeared in an ABC’s Channel 7 (video of just Kahlil speaking) asked him to provide color on then Supervisor Eric Mar’s proposal to impose a 1.5% tech tax on San Francisco companies to address homelessness.  Kahlil lamented, “I notice there are more yuppies. When I panhandle, it’s harder for me to get my food money.” 

Kahlil interview with ABC Channel 7 in February 2014

·      April 2017: Kahlil was sentenced to 9-years for the voluntary manslaughter.

·      November 29, 2022: The SF Standard interviewed Kahlil as he smoked meth.  (I’m thinking the same thing: Doesn’t a nine-year sentence added to a 2017 sentencing equal an April 2026 release?)

The eight years separating Kahlil’s two photos document a spiral weighed by the gravity of his bipolar depression and drug use.  And yet, during this period, a firehose of funds was directed to homeless programs.  Supervisor Mar’s proposal, which followed the 2004 California 1% tax on million-dollar incomes to address mental health, did not make the ballot.  However, in November 2018, Marc Benioff, who grew up in the Burlingame suburbs and then attending U.S.C., was successful in promoting Prop C, which created a gross receipts tax on corporations.  Bechtel Group and Charles Schwab picked up and left the city, while San Francisco’s homeless population continued to increase.  

Next came Covid and the gusher of federal funds that San Francisco received but elected to mostly direct to homelessness.  And in proving a direct correlation, the homeless population surged further, and even more companies uprooted and departed San Francisco. 

24th and Capp Streets:

Deep into the fall, the weather on the day before Thanksgiving hit an unseasonable 68 degrees as people readied themselves to gather with their families over the weekend.  In the sunshine of a brilliant noon hour, a senior citizen waited patiently for the signal light to turn at 24th and Capp Streets.

Suddenly, without explanation or provocation, he was hit in the back of the head by the cast on an unknown assailant’s left hand.  The senior citizen fell to the ground with injuries to his head and damage to his spinal cord.  After going through emergency spinal cord surgery at Zuckerberg Hospital, the victim still has limited mobility on the right side of his body.  Happy Thanksgiving from San Francisco.

SFPD collected neighbors’ surveillance videos of a 6’5” man wearing a green jacket with a cast on his left hand.

Six days after the aggravated assault, SF Standard interviewed a very tall and relatable victim of homelessness with cast on his left hand.  SF Standard published the photo of Kahlil (top photo) in his green jacket and a cast on his left hand. And SFPD identified their suspect.  Within a few days, Kahlil was arrested.

Hey Kahlil, no interview probably means no arrest.

New York Mayor Eric Adams:

In his article, Sjostedt wrote, “Keith (Kahlil) said that drug treatment scares him because he uses weed to calm the psychosis caused by his bipolar depression.  ‘I want to stop bad as fuck,’ Keith said in between taking puffs from a meth pipe. ‘I need help. I’m living in third-world conditions.’”  Sjostedt quotes Kahlil as saying, “drug treatment scares him.”

The same day Sjostedt’s interviewed Kahlil, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced a policy shift that empowers either police or street outreach teams to expand the pool of struggling people that can be brought in for mandatory psychiatric evaluations- even if it’s against their will.  Mayor Adams said it was a “myth” that the law required a person to be behaving in an “outrageously dangerous” or suicidal way before a police officer or medical worker could take action. 

Fighting for the homeless industry’s status quo are San Francisco Examiner columnists like Lincoln Mitchell who lives, works, and apparently votes in New York City, but is allowed to write about our local San Francisco street issues.  In yesterday’s column, A homeless plan not worth trying, Mitchell summarily refused to consider Adam’s plan “because as a former police officer (Adam is) like the man who only has a hammer and therefore everything is a nail (and) appears to believe more policing is the solution.”    Then Mitchell argues against an Adams-type plan for San Francisco reverting to the failed time-tested answer of the need for even more money:

      A better approach would be to offer meaningful help to those homeless.  These ideas

      all require more money, a substantial change in attitude towards mental illness and

      prioritizing spending money to help our most vulnerable.

Mitchell’s close-mindedness, prejudice against public safety, and polarizing carpetbagging accounts for my harsh tone.

Kahlil has said he is afraid of treatment.  He’s not going to do it by himself.  Mayor Adam’s plan at least gives people like him a chance.  Instead, to quote Kahlil, “It’s going to be flooded out here with more bullshit”—  as increased funding only fattens the homeless industry’s pockets, attracting more Kahlils to San Francisco, while never addressing the root causes of homelessness: mental health and drug use.  Maybe it’s time to experiment with Mayor Adams’ plan and more strongly encourage treatment, even if it puts nonprofit jobs at risk.

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[i] For my Santa Rosa readers, the Catholic Charities’ home was located on Red Tail Road near Stony Point Road.