Deputies fired less-lethal rounds after fireworks were launched at officers
by JOE RIVANO BARROS and JESSICA BLOUGH
July 5, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
As they do most every year, Mission District revelers blasted music, danced in the streets, and set off hundreds of fireworks at intersections across the neighborhood to celebrate the Fourth of July.
And, like clockwork, San Francisco police officers rushed the crowds again this year, ordering them to disperse a little before 11 p.m. and then giving chase.
“You have four minutes to leave the area,” Lt. Manny Bonilla, who earlier this week became the acting captain of Mission Station, said at 10:49 p.m. He was speaking through an SUV-mounted loudspeaker to about 200 people gathered at 26th Street and Treat Avenue, by Garfield Park.
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“Leave now!” he commanded, surrounded by dozens of police officers and sheriff’s deputies, and at least 15 vehicles. “You are subject to arrest. Force may be used.”
The crowd, a block away and surrounded by noisemakers and revelrous shouting, could hear nothing.
The police and deputies then sprinted down the street at 10:58 p.m., batons ready and yelling “Go!” and “Move, move!”
The crowd seemed to hold its ground for a moment while officers ran towards them; a large white firework burst in front of them and temporarily shielded the police from view. Several people unhurriedly walked away, while others stood defiant on the crosswalk, waiting. Stragglers set off half a dozen fireworks and shouted “Fuck off!” as the officers charged.
Then everyone fled, leaving behind ashes, beer bottles, and burnt fireworks boxes. Sheriff’s deputies aimed less-lethal rifles, and one shot his at least three times after a firework was launched into the officers’ scrum.
A woman ran up to the police and said she had lost track of some children and was going to go looking for them, but the officers held her back. “It’s not gonna happen,” one said repeatedly, until another person escorted her away.
One man was detained in handcuffs and led away by three officers. The San Francisco Police Department, in a statement, said the man was taken into custody after “officers developed probable cause to arrest the adult male who was in possession of a firearm.”
The department said it issued dispersal orders “due to illegal fireworks being ignited and shot toward officers.” Police had been monitoring the crowds for hours beforehand, including with an aerial drone.
The cat-and-mouse game that often happens on July 4, where police officers rush and hold corner after corner, chasing the crowds, began: Police declared another unlawful assembly at 24th and Harrison streets at 11:33 p.m. About 30 people had been shooting off fireworks, albeit a fraction of the size of those earlier at Treat. Officers threatened them with arrest, and the fireworks immediately ceased.
But after that, the crowds dissipated into smaller and smaller groups flocking into taquerias like Vallarta and El Farolito. Groups of officers congregated on corners, and police SUVs patrolled the streets. Pop’s Bar and Rubin’s Market liquor store hosted late stayers.
Garfield Park is the usual spot for the Mission’s Fourth of July — before officers arrived, crowds had been lighting fireworks for hours while listening to the likes of “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar and “Soak City” by 310babii. One of the main attractions of the night — other than the pyrotechnics — was a young man in a Batman costume, who drew a crowd of fans chanting his name and raising their arms for selfies.
But within a few minutes of The Dark Knight’s arrival, the police had rolled up.
Elsewhere in the neighborhood and across the city, smaller groups set off fireworks late into the night. The police appeared largely unconcerned with them.
Dirt bikers roamed around the neighborhood. At least two Waymo autonomous vehicles were briefly trapped by the fireworks, much to the enjoyment of onlookers, who sandwiched one between explosions until they grew bored. After dozens of attempts, it eventually turned around and made its way back down 26th Street.
Before midnight, street-washing trucks with the Department of Public Works began spraying the road, rinsing away the detritus.
joe.rivanobarros@missionlocal.com
Joe was born in Sweden, where half of his family received asylum after fleeing Pinochet, and then spent his early childhood in Chile; he moved to Oakland when he was eight. He attended Stanford University for political science and worked at Mission Local as a reporter after graduating. He then spent time at YIMBY Action and as a partner for the strategic communications firm The Worker Agency. He rejoined Mission Local as an editor in 2023. You can reach him on Signal @jrivanob.99.More by Joe Rivano Barros
JESSICA BLOUGH
Intern. Jessica is a multimedia journalist based in San Francisco. She’s getting her Master’s degree in journalism at UC Berkeley and was previously an editor at Alta Journal and The Tufts Daily. She enjoys reading, reviewing books, teaching writing, hiking and rock climbing.More by Jessica Blough
