Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 11:47:09 -0400 To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com> From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com> Subject: Hero held on parole violation - Taking intruder's gun broke rules Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"Source: San Francisco Chronicle http://www.sfgate.com/
SoMa loft hero held on parole violation - Taking intruder's gun broke rules http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/17/MN229399.DTL
By Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
A man hailed by San Francisco police for seizing a robber's gun to stop a violent holdup at a live-work loft has been jailed by state authorities on a possible parole violation -- handling the gun.
Police are frustrated that Detrick Washington, a 25-year-old San Franciscan who they say was instrumental in saving himself and four other people Tuesday night, has been locked up.
"He took a chance. I believe we could call him a hero," Inspector Armand Gordon said. "He basically saved five people's lives, including his own."
The two armed men who used a ruse to force their way into the loft were shot to death, one by Washington, the other by his friend and partner in a concert promotion business, Brian Walters. Police said the shootings appear to have been justified and that they urged state parole authorities not to lock up Washington on Wednesday -- but to no avail.
Washington, in an interview in San Francisco County Jail, seemed resigned to his stay there. "I feel I shouldn't be here, but I guess that's the way parole has to handle it," he said.
"I just feel if I didn't get the gun, we would have all been dead."
Police said Washington was being supervised for a drug conviction. State corrections officials say he must stay in jail until they do their own investigation into the incident at the South of Market loft.
"Mr. Washington, at this point, is viewed as a victim, not a suspect," said Greg Potnick, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections regional parole office.
Potnick pointed out that parole terms carry strict restrictions on owning or possessing weapons. He conceded that "under the circumstances, in order to save his and others' well-being, it may have been necessary for him to touch that weapon and possess it.
"But given the gravity of the situation that occurred, we felt (arresting Washington) was the best thing to do," Potnick said.
WITNESSES BEING INTERVIEWED
Washington can be held for six working days -- until Wednesday -- while the state does its checking.
"It's unfortunate he is in that position," said Lt. Judie Pursell of the San Francisco Police homicide detail. But she added, "He's on parole, and they have a job to do."
Police say they have interviewed all three surviving adult witnesses from the holdup and believe their story of what happened in Walters' Bluxome Street loft Tuesday night.
Washington said he had been at the loft for five minutes when someone knocked at the door. Washington got up from playing with a Playstation game and let in a man police identified as Deandre Johnson, 32, whom Walters had invited over.
Ten minutes later, Johnson said he had to pick up his sister. Washington let him out but said he was forced back into the split-level loft when a second man appeared at the door.
Johnson pulled out a gun, Washington said, and the second man -- identified by police as 28-year-old Lovell Brown -- pulled out a 15-inch machete. The two ordered Walters and Washington to empty their pockets, then tied up Walters' girlfriend and threw a bedsheet over her and her two sons, ages 3 and 5.
The men ransacked the loft, apparently looking for event proceeds. One man gashed the victims with the machete, and the intruders eventually forced Walters to open a safe containing $3,000, Washington said.
Believing there was more cash to be had, Brown began to beat the captive men and ordered Washington to bind Walters, telling them, "I'll go and kill the kids and that girl if you don't give me the rest of the money," according to Washington's account.
'I'M SORRY I DID IT' Meanwhile, Johnson went upstairs to check on the woman and her children. He had already set his gun down once during the ordeal, and Washington noticed that he had done so again.
"Damn, the gun is there again -- he left it on the couch. I can't believe it," Washington said he thought to himself.
He went for the gun and held it on Brown.
"He flinched toward me. I flinched back. The gun went off," Washington said.
"It hit him in the head. I really didn't mean to shoot the guy. I'm sorry I did it."
Washington said he gave the gun to his friend to hold on the surviving robber. Walters called 911. Washington then went up to check on the woman and her children.
From upstairs, he said, he heard his friend say, "Stay down! Don't move! Don't get up! Don't get up!"
Then he heard, "He's getting up, he's getting up!" and then gunfire. Johnson died later at the hospital.
"I'm sorry," Washington said. "I didn't mean for anyone to die. It should never have happened."
E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com.
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