All In A Day's Work For Sup. Mirkarimi

All In A Day's Work For Supervisor
Mirkarimi Thwarts Robberies, Administers CPR
By Justin Jouvenal
Staff Writer, San Francisco Examiner
Published: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:58 PM PDT

When politicians talk about serving the community, it usually means fixing a broken streetlight or getting money for a new community center, but how's this for constituent service: lifesaving CPR and foiling robberies.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi can list both of those accomplishments on his résumé during his short term in office. On Sunday, the Supervisor and a friend performed CPR on a man, and then carried him down a hill to a waiting ambulance, police said Wednesday. "It doesn't leap to my mind when I've heard about another politician doing something like this," said San Francisco police Capt. John Ehrlich, with the Park Station. "I don't know if other [politicians] would have done this."

There's no word on whether the man was a voter in District 5, Mirkarimi's district.

The incident began when someone called 911 to report a man was calling for help in Buena Vista Park. Mirkarimi and the friend heard the man calling for help and headed down a hill to give him CPR, according to police. When police arrived on the scene, they guided Mirkarimi and the friend to the ambulance.

The incident comes after Mirkarimi helped stop a smash-and-grab robbery in June. Mirkarimi noticed a guy dragging a backpack away from a car in the Lower Haight that had a broken window. The man dropped the bag after Mirkarimi yelled at him and gave him a short chase.

The bag, which contained clothing, a wallet and a checkbook, belonged to a tourist from Texas, who was thrilled to get it back. Mirkarimi did not return a call for comment Wednesday, but told The Examiner in June not to make a big deal of his crimefighting.

"Please don't make me out to be the caped crusader, because I'm not. … Anybody would do such a thing."