Neighbor Records the Arrest of Guerrero's Most Prolific Graffiti Writer, Dude Looks Hella Like Justin Bieber
After 'terrorizing' a two block radius around 19th and Guerrero for the last few months, the nameless, character-driven graffiti artist (whose work has been celebrated multiple times on this very blog, as well as SFist) was busted by SFPD. And how? Because dude skipped freshman orientation over at Krylon Kollege and never got the message that you don't do this shit in the middle of the day, especially around the likes of Dolores Park.
Anyway, I'm not one to snitch on a guy for spraying a little birdie and bunny on a wall, but the video by neighbor "SF Mission Protector" is of such low quality that you could never make out the details of the dude's face. So crank up that N.W.A. record, pop some popcorn, and give this 10 minute vid a skim:
Comments
I have mixed feelings on this. My first reaction is of course "FUCK THE PO-LICE. WHY YOU SNITCHIN' BITCH?" upon review of the of the video and listening to the real bitch's whiney ass pleas and claims of not being a criminal my feelings change. It would actually make a difference to me if he only painted quality work and never just littered the town up with chicken shit tags. The fact that he does in fact engage in the chicken shit tags leaves much less sympathy in me, and really when I see the "This is my therapy" shit I'm sold - You are in fact just a bay area native brat with no fuckin problems and too much time on your hands. Have at it SFPD.
Neighbor, you're still a douche.
It's a good thing they had 8 cops and 3 patrol cars to handle this kid.
http://www.hark.com/clips/wzltrtcslh-sure-you-brought-enough-guys
Street art is sometimes valid, but this guy mostly does lame tags. Tagging a tree is not cool. And the way he hung out,, lounged around the site, reacted to the guy banging on the window- unclear on the concept. I'm okay with him getting busted.
Why is the neighbor a douche? This is how society is suppose to work. Law-abiding citizens alert the police to crime in progress and document it so that convictions will take place. If you don't like the laws, change them.
A police state is not a functional society.
This is not what people think of as an example of a police state. At all.
If everyone did what Mr. Type suggested, it would be.
Your political theory confuses me, Socrates. Are you opposed to law enforcement, laws in general, or private citizens reporting crimes in progress?
If private citizens were to always report every crime they saw, we wouldn't be able to drink at Dolores Park to cite one obvious example.
So yes, people should use 911 sparingly. It's for emergencies, not getting the cops to harass darn whippersnappers on your lawn.
I hate to call idiots on the internet "idiots"... but ummm, no, a citizen reporting a crime does not equate to a "police state".
If everyone did, yes, it would.
Besides drinking in the park, how many laws do you break per week?
Zero, officer!
That's what I thought.
Seriously though, this country not only has the highest incarceration rate in the world, but we jail -- or even kill -- our own citizens without due process if they're suspected of a certain class of crimes.
So let's stop this denial bullshit and just face the facts: the USA is and has been a police state for some time.
So, what are you doing about it? That's what I thought.
Move then.
nerd snitch
thank you to the neighbor/videotaper. i live in the neighborhood and this guy was tagging dumb, bratty shit on people's homes. calling the cops isn't always the best option, but the neighbor first gave the guy a few warnings that someone could see him tagging IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY.
This is so satisfying. Some of this clown's art was just red paint smeared across multiple buildings. And he tagged Pay N Save. Not cool.
Fuck with Pay n Save, you fuck with us all.
No no, I'm with you guys. Calling the police was fine. Its more the "SFMISSIONPROTECTOR73" YouTube handle and the janky title commentary and iPhone video that tip toes into douche territory.
amen
Ha ha ha, you have a pretty strict criteria for putting someone in the douche category. First of all, it was an Android, not an iPhone. So that's a tad less douchy right there. Second of all, this is the Mission, and everything's supposed to be ironic. So, of course, I'm an anonymous superhero. And you're disappointed with my captions? Why, because I used proper English and free software? Did you want a musical soundtrack? Was I suppose to not only be a responsible citizen but also happen to own FinalCutPro and have the skills to use it? I really didn't care - the video spoke for itself, and I just wanted to convey a bit of the background and thought process that went into calling the cops. It was a hard decision and I was torn between actually really liking the art that this guy does, but being totally against how and where he is doing it.
Calling the cops was the right thing to do. I wish more people got involved and the whole city could deter shitty taggers. Your proper grammar is really offensive and I cant believe you would post a video online with out color correcting, color grading it and creating the titles in After Effects, because Final Cut Pro's titles are super weak. Using an android just makes you an open source asshole. I won't have any of this. Obviously I'm kidding. You could definitely just drop info in the video info section and forgo the running commentary.
Love his high-pitched squeal as he gets essentially kid glove treatment from SFPD during aprehension for criminal trespass/vandalizing. Well done.
Is there anything linking this kid to the other tags? The rabbit character was already there when he showed up, and I don't see the doob tag being thrown. Looks kind of like he heard about a spot and is getting blamed for the deeds of whoever hit it earlier.
Yeah, same black and white paint used for bird and rabbit. Rabbit shows up all over the neighborhood, often with the double spiral signature tag, which shows up in many more places with other tags as well. It's all pretty easy to piece together. And nobody else was ever on that construction site. It is really hard to access.
punk ass bitch. throw this kid in the clink. at least, give him a couple hundred hours of community service, to be spent paiting over tags.
maybe he'll think twice next time.
neat freak
*painting*
hahaha seriously people??? he got caught, after the neighbor let it be known that someone was watching him. he was really asking for it, let's not kid ourselves. police state? the neighbor was filming with an iphone. as a writer i actually found this to be hilarious. the toys weed themselves out...
I wonder how many times SF MISSION PROTECTOR has hidden under his sheets when there's a drug deal or violent gang activity going on outside. Kid deserved to get arrested, but anyone who calls themselves MISSION PROTECTOR while dropping dimes on non-threatening teenagers who wave hello, and then brags about it on the internet is still a pompous ass.
Preeecisely.
Missionprotector better have a cape and cool outfit with that superhero name. Besides,I thought we already had a People behaving badly snitch.
Zach, you miss the irony of it all. Of course I'm not a super hero! I'm well aware that stopping a graffiti tagger isn't "protecting" anything except people's time and money, but I needed to come up with something anonymous. Plus, doesn't it give you just a titch of a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that there's some anonymous person keeping their eye out for your hood?
Hmm, I'm pro drug deals, and anti-graffiti.
Seems like a nice kid. I like it when the popo lifts him over the fence.
Sometimes seemingly innocent ignorance needs to be celebrated. You know, like when you were a kid and thought you were cool as shit or inspired. It's a nice psychosis.
He's like 20! Kid needs to grow a pair and his parents need to stop giving him an allowance.
I posted this on MM so sorry for cross-posting here:
We have to paint Pop’s EVERY week inside and out. The fines from the city are one thing but it also has other implications — like independent insurance assessors that report tags as evidence of a criminal element in the area and report that back to the insurance company so our rates go up.
That’s hundreds of dollars a month to clean-up after taggers and, so far, we haven’t passed that cost on to our customers.
It’s really frustrating coming in every week and seeing the same douchebag tags. I know they think it’s a funny little game but is writing your name in the bathroom really that important?
That’s why I find it frustrating when blogs like this promote tagging. It’s not a victimless crime.
The National Association of Realitors study says graffiti lowers neighborhhod propertyvalues by 10 to 15%. Do the math on a $ 600,000 unit . Justin Beiber cost us serious bank.
And you haters who dont expect to ever own can fire away.
Seriously, hundreds of dollars a month?!
How about setting the tone by putting something nice in the bathroom, like say a taxidermy kitten head or something?
First reasonable thing I've heard all day.
Easily 100s. First of all, we have to pay someone to fix everything. It takes between an hour or two each week to repaint everything. That's $30 a week in wages alone. Then there is the cost of paint, rollers and tray. And then you calculate the amount our insurance was raised and you're easily into $200+ a month.
People tag anything. There's no point in putting anything nice anywhere because people will just tag it. We had our new jukebox for ONE DAY and someone etched their tag into the glass.
It's really frustrating.
Yup. Taggers fucking suck.
+1 on presenting some facts and good posts.
Some of the fixie, skateboard douche bags are responsible for most of the bar tagging in the Mission. I know of a certain bar owner that is thinking of getting rid of PBR and Tecate so the scumbags will go elsewhere.
Dirty Thieves (Blind Cat) raised the price of a PBR to $4 and a game of pool to $1.50 less than two weeks ago. When asked why, the bartender yelled at everyone about "all the problem kids" that ruin the bar.
I endorse this plan.
I wonder if it would make sense to hire someone to watch a couple of nights and try to catch a vandal in the act. Seems like just continuing the cycle is more costly than trying to discourage it somehow.
New taggers would come.
best technique is to show that the tags will be erased quickly
Absolutely. I'm all for neighborhood watch where it is needed. We have windows and rooftops that have views of pretty much everything that needs watching. Residents in problem areas should really band together and take shifts to sniff this stuff out.
getting up on a wall in the middle of the day is really fun though. I did some throw ups in phx during rush hour traffic, people honked and yelled but I just kept smiling.
joker or idiot. ?
honest
and there aren't two e's in my name
Yeah, but you're a bad person.
Good job on catching the vandal.
His tagging sucked.
FRUITVALE will be the next mission. MARK my words.
Ha Ha Ha! This made my week. FUCK that asshole. How many thousands of dollars have people of the neighborhood had to waste painting over or sandblasting his incredibly lame shit off their houses? How is smearing brown paint on someone's house with your hands art?
I'm glad this made your week! I wasn't going to post this, but I just knew people in the community would get great satisfaction out of knowing how this graffiti story ended!
I think this guy is back and tagged the south sidewalk along 18th between South Van Ness and Folsom. FWIW.
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