The owner of a Tenderloin jazz bar accused San Francisco police and fire officials of being unable to defend his business after a Wednesday night break-in that left his property unsecured and left the property unsecured.
Fritz Quattlebaum, owner of the Black Cat Bar and Supper Club on Eddy Street, said police and firefighters who first responded to the burglary Tuesday morning put a plastic shade over the frame of the broken glass door and left after 20 minutes.
Police did not return to the business all night, Quattlebaum said, allowing a second wave of robbers unrestricted access.
“The police department was a block away, and no one bothered to stop and look,” Quattlebaum said. “Most of the injuries, most of the things (that were taken) happened after the police got there.”
A spokeswoman for the police and fire departments said authorities made several attempts to locate a representative of the black cat after they arrived, but those attempts were unsuccessful.
Fire Department Lt. Jonathan Baxter said it’s the property owners’ responsibility to get protection or outside services to protect their property after a fire, and the city doesn’t have the resources to protect an unsafe place. Many hours.
“There were no mistakes by the fire department,” Baxter said.
A police spokesman said officers on the scene acted in accordance with police department policy. “This is an open and active investigation, because of this kind of surveillance,” Sgt. Adam Lobsinger.
The Black Cat break-in was the latest in a series of crimes that business owners and residents described as an outrageous response from law enforcement agencies.
Last year, surveillance video showed police standing by at a potential robbery at a cannabis dispensary. In February, The Chronicle reported on a restaurant owner whose business was vandalized on New Year’s Eve — before and after police arrived, contacted the alleged vandal, and left.
Police Chief Bill Scott told the Chronicle in February that officers who witnessed cannabis thefts were sent to training.
According to a police statement, officers arrived at the Eddy Street bar at 2:19 a.m. after a witness reported a broken door to the business.
Upon arrival, officers saw an individual exiting the business through the broken glass door and arrested the individual.
“Officers processed the business and determined that the business was not occupied,” a police spokesperson said in an email to The News Chronicle. “The arrested individual was released pending further investigation.”
After unsuccessful attempts to contact the business owners, police said they wrote an incident report and left the contact information at the scene.
Over the next six hours, Quattlebaum said, truckloads of thieves pulled up to the scene, taking turns pulling up to the club’s front door with musical instruments, cash register drawers and bottles of alcohol.
Some even brought their own bags.
“It was literally a free-for-all,” said Fritz Quattlebaum, describing the security footage as a fun shopping experience.
“They went around the place, picking things up and putting them in the bag,” Quattlebaum said. “People look at things and say, ‘No, I don’t want to take it.’
Quattlebaum believes the crew should have installed plywood after the initial break-in.
The owner said he contacted the Tenderloin precinct captain, and the captain said he was “very upset about what happened.”
“I feel like he’s really committed, and I feel like he’s going to see and accept the failures in this situation,” Quattlebaum said.
“We have a responsibility,” Quattlebaum said. That’s what we pay them, and they fail.
Megan Cassidy is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
