A San Francisco security guard who sustained brain damage in a confrontation with skateboarders is seeking damages from one of the suspected attackers, Thrasher magazine and building owners including the Trump Organization.
In a security video included in the civil lawsuit, Dan Jansen is lying on the sidewalk at 555 California St.
Dan Jansen, 57, was seriously injured on November 25, 2018 while trying to prevent skateboarders from performing stunts in front of 555 California St., a skyscraper in the financial district.
He was in a coma for more than a week and underwent multiple surgeries, according to the civil complaint filed Monday in the Superior Court in San Francisco. He will need “lifelong medical care and treatment,” including accompanying care, according to the lawsuit.
One of the skateboarders, Jesse Vieira, was charged with crimes including assault with a lethal weapon; His 2019 trial ended in misconduct when the jury got stuck.
Vieira, a professional skateboarder, is named as a defendant in the lawsuit by Jansen and his wife. Also mentioned are Thrasher magazine – which promoted the activities of GX1000, a skateboard crew founded and managed by Thrasher’s parent company – and the owners and operators of 555 California, which includes the Trump Organization.
The complaint calls for a jury trial and does not indicate a dollar amount.
The suit states that Vieira and other members of the GX1000 often used the space outside the building – known to skateboarders as Black Rock – “to practice and perform various skateboarding stunts and tricks, and to be sure to incite physical fights, to provoke, participate and monetize it ”. Staff.”
On November 24, 2018, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, security guards there called the police for help and said that a collision with 10 to 15 skateboarders had “gotten out of hand”. Jansen was not told about this episode when he came to work the next day, according to the suit. He confronted a group of seven skateboarders who were laying barricades that he had erected to prevent their activities.
In the ensuing fight, recorded by a surveillance camera, Jansen was pushed onto the sidewalk and hit his head, breaking his skull. When he was passed out, the skateboarders fled.
The incident attracted national attention and resulted in a long feature in the New York Times on the renegade image of skateboarding in preparation for its Olympic debut.
