San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Susan Slusser, who started covering the San Francisco Giants this year after years of doing the same for the Oakland A’s, was accosted on the way to her car following last night’s game between the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. A group of Dodgers fans saw the incident and interceded on her behalf, escorting her safely to her vehicle.

Pretty big fan of Dodgers fans right now. Very drunk and big man accosted me walking to the parking lot, very threatening, and a group of LA fans surrounded me and walked me to my car and kept him away. Thanks to all of you. That was freaking scary.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) September 5, 2021

Slusser is a veteran sports reporter and one of the absolute best in the business. She is an old-school pure journalist, keeping her own views, whatever they may be, out of each and every story. Instead, she focuses solely on facts, the athletes and when called for team personnel (front office, etc), and above all the game itself. While it dates back a few years, this clip showcases Slusser’s knowledge of the game, players, teams, and organizations:

Universally recognized by her peers for her quality work, Slusser is the only woman to ever serve as president of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Slusser added the problem was not related to the heated rivalry between the Giants and Dodgers, as the perpetrator was apparently unconnected to either. Rather, he was one of San Francisco’s numerous mental health victims/issues:

I think that’s the issue. I don’t think it’s a Giants fan/Dodger fan problem. I think he was either homeless and/or on substances or had some mental instability.

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) September 5, 2021

The incident highlights a growing problem in San Francisco and multiple major cities across the country, namely a total failure to properly address the mental health issues fueling much of the homeless problem. The city refuses to protect, let alone prioritize, its own residents’ lives and property. It is unwilling to accept its own failures, instead continuing to pursue politics and policies repeatedly proven utterly ineffective. San Francisco’s stubborn refusal to accept that many homeless people need to be taken off the street, forcibly if need be, and kept in drug treatment/mental health care facilities until such time as they are able to re-enter society, no longer a threat to themselves and others, leads directly to incidents such as what happened last night.

The Giants’ front office has reached out directly to Slusser pledging to do better in regard to post-game safety. Hopefully, it will also make an effort to locate and contact the Dodgers fans who protected her last night, thanking them for stepping up and doing what good people do. And hopefully, hopefully, this will penetrate the stubborn refusal of San Francisco’s city government to accept reality and start embracing genuine, effective mental health treatment policies.