San Francisco to investigate homeless person's ride into city provided by San Rafael police

SAN FRANCISCO --  San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu's office is investigating a homeless man's ride into the city provided by a San Rafael police officer.

Supervisor Matt Dorsey lauded the investigation in a news release on Wednesday.

 "Kudos to City Attorney David Chiu for investigating this incident and sending a strong message to other jurisdictions that San Francisco won't tolerate 'patient dumping' and similar practices, which cruelly abandon those in need and exploit our City's social services safety net," Dorsey said. 

Dorsey harkened back to the 2015 when Nevada officials bused needy psychiatric patients to San Francisco and other California counties.

 "This isn't the first time San Francisco has seen these kinds of episodes, sadly, and I was proud to be part of the team that investigated and successfully sued the State of Nevada for patient-dumping practices several years ago," he said in his statement.

The man in the Marin County incident eventually began acting in an agitated manner and required medical treatment.

The San Rafael police have reportedly apologized for the June 30 incident that began at the Northgate Shopping Center in Marin and ended along 14th Avenue near Lake Street in San Francisco's Richmond District.  

Back in 2015 Nevada paid $400,000 to settle a class action suit filed by the City Attorney's office for sending at least 24 patients to San Francisco from Nevada's state-run psychiatric facility, Rawson-Neal Hospital in Las Vegas, aboard Greyhound buses.

Of those 24 patients, 20 required emergency medical care within a short time after their arrival and San Francisco spent nearly $500,000 on medical care and housing for those patients, all of whom were homeless and suffering from mental illnesses.