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Arrest made in pipe attack on homeless San Francisco man

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A man has been arrested in connection with what San Francisco police say was a senseless attack on a well-known homeless man, who was hit on the head with a metal pipe.

Arthur Lee Jones, 35, of Fairfield, was taken into custody at 12:45 a.m. Friday on suspicion of attempted murder and aggravated assault on the homeless man, whose injuries left him hospitalized and unresponsive, said Officer Carlos Manfredi of the San Francisco Police Department.

“This happened for no rhyme or reason,” he said.

The arrest came less than 24 hours after police released surveillance footage showing the pipe attack on the homeless man.

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The video shows the homeless man leaning against a wall on a bucket on Larkin Street as a man allegedly approaches him and appears to be concealing a pipe, holding it close to the right side of his body.

The attacker quickly pulls out the pipe and allegedly strikes the left side of the man’s head. The pipe falls to the ground, the attacker retrieves it and walks away.

The man suffered a massive wound to his head that required 50 stitches.

Although his wound was stitched up, the man is still in critical condition, Manfredi said.

The homeless man was well-known to police and residents in the neighborhood because he mostly lived near the intersection of Larkin and Geary streets, Manfredi said. He described the man as “genuinely nice.”

Manfredi befriended the man as he patroled neighborhood streets and often helped him by taking him to a nearby shelter, so he could shower and shave.

On one occasion, Manfredi and his partner spotted the man hobbling around the neighborhood. They asked him why he was limping. He told them his shoes were too small and his feet were bleeding.

Manfredi and his partner bought him a new pair of shoes.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA

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