A case against a San Francisco transient accused of assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats is set to be dismissed on Wednesday, the Office of the San Francisco Public Defender said.
Austin Vincent, 25, previously pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from a February incident where four people said a man threatened them with a knife before they jumped into a waiting rideshare car and escaped.
Vincent was caught on security video recorded Aug. 12 which authorities said show him attacking a woman outside her condominium lobby. The video shows Paneez Kosarian being assaulted as she tries to enter the Watermark building on Beale Street.
One of the victims from the February incident saw the chilling surveillance video and recognized Vincent’s mug shot. New charges against Vincent were then filed, prompting the transient to turn himself in after previously being released from custody because Judge Christine Van Aken said he had a nonviolent criminal history.
The victim from the February incident misidentified Vincent as the person involved, according to the SF public defender.
"The Public Defender was able to prove that Mr. Vincent was living in Southern California at the time of the February incident and could not have been the perpetrator," the SF Public Defender said in a press release.
Vincent’s attorney, Saleem Belbahri, also filed a bail motion this week to have the charges dropped.
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“I received word from the DA today that they were able to corroborate the information I submitted in the bail motion, and have indicated that they plan to throw out the charges," Belhbahri said in a statement Tuesday.
