Supervisor in S.F. Earns a Black Eye for Trying to Restrain Outraged Man

Supervisor Bill Maher was struck in the eye while restraining a man who leaped over the chamber railing at the start of Monday’s board meeting.

The man, who shouted obscenities and knocked over a model of a proposed addition to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, was identified by police as Donald Lee Nieto, 44, of San Francisco.

Officer Don Schneider said Nieto was booked on charges of assaulting a public officer, disrupting a public meeting and battery. No bail has yet been set.

“The man is a mental case,” said Schneider. “He’s a known mental case from City Hall. They seem to know him pretty well down there.”

As Nieto charged the supervisors, Nieto made a few comments about public officials “screwing up this city,” Schneider said.

Ashley Mooser, an administrative assistant to Maher, a five-year member of the board, said the supervisor was unhurt and continued the meeting as usual. The incident occurred just after 2 p.m., she said.

“The board of supervisors meeting had just convened. The man jumped over the railing. He was screaming and yelling and rushed toward the president’s chair. Maher restrained him and held him down, but got a black eye in the process,” she said.

“It looked like he was rushing at (board President John) Molinari and (Supervisor Nancy) Walker,” Mooser said. “I think he was just out of his head.”