The possible fatal attack on a legendary private detective in San Francisco was possibly solved by an unlikely person: Jack Palladino himself.
City police on Sunday identified two suspects who have now been jailed for the violent robbery that took place Thursday afternoon, 24-year-old Lawrence Thomas of Pittsburg and 23-year-old Tyjone Flournoy of San Francisco.
The breakthrough in the case was due in part to Palladino – photos found from his camera that the suspects tried to steal, his family said.
Palladino, 76, remained unconscious, but the good news came during a visit by his wife and co-detective Sandra Sutherland on Saturday night.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Jack, they got the bastards, and that’s all you did,’ Sutherland told The Chronicle on Sunday.
Palladino, which included political heavyweights and Hollywood celebrities, remained in a serious condition with a serious head injury in a San Francisco hospital. Sutherland said he was taken off livelihood and that he was breathing on his own, but that he would not survive more than a few days.
“Jack is a difficult person to keep,” she said. “But I really think that’s it.”
Thomas was booked into jail Friday night; Flournoy was arrested in Reno on Saturday and booked into San Francisco Jail Sunday morning.
Both men were arrested on charges of the same crimes: attempted robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, false imprisonment and abuse of older men, as well as an improvement because they allegedly caused Palladino major bodily injury. . They still had to be charged.
Palladino’s professional career includes clients of former president Bill Clinton – who according to a top assistant hired the couple in 1992 to suppress rumors about his extramarital affairs – to a 14-year-old boy who filed a civil settlement against Michael Jackson of a million dollars. for alleged molestation.
Just before the attack, Sutherland said, her husband took off his reading glasses, grabbed his camera and bolted it to the door of their yellow Victorian home in the 1400 block of Paga Street.
“He went out to take pictures of people who had done harm in the area,” Sutherland said.
When Palladino took shots, the men in a car apparently noticed him, Sutherland said.
“They shot him (with the car) and tried to get the camera which they could not do,” she said. “Because Jack did not want to leave.”
Palladino was dragged, fell and hit his head, says his stepson, Nick Chapman. He said his stepfather was briefly conscious while lying in the street, but quickly fell into unconsciousness.
Sutherland said she did not know what the photos of her husband showed, but police “found evidence that it was very helpful in apprehending these two people.”
According to records, Flournoy was one of four men arrested by San Francisco police late last year in connection with the murder of 33-year-old Ronisha Cook, who was fatally shot on December 19, 2019 on 500 Ellis Street. in the Tenderloin.
Prosecutors have charged two of the men – Gary Owens, 39, and Robert Huntley, 31, with murder, saying police need more evidence to file charges against Flournoy and the fourth suspect, District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Sunday. . Flournoy was released.
“We have filed murder charges against the people we believe we can prove they were the real shooter and driver of the car,” Boudin said. ‘At the time of the arrest, we asked the police to continue the investigation into the two passengers in the car, including Mr. Flournoy. ‘
San Bruno police arrested Flournoy and two other men on February 21, 2019, for burglary of a car. The status of the case in San Mateo County was not immediately clear Sunday.
Boudin said his heart goes out to Palladino’s family, and he praised the police for solving the case so quickly.
Boudin, a prosecutor who promised to use his post to stop mass incarceration, recently underwent intensive investigation into a hit-and-run accident in which two people died on New Year’s Eve, and whether his office could do more to prevent it.
Palladino, however, did not consider himself among such critics, Sutherland said.
“I’m a proponent of Chesa Boudin, and so is Jack,” she said. “And I’m sure he will do the right thing.”
Palladino and Sutherland – who have both worked extensively on criminal defense teams – believe in recovery justice and that there is systematic racism among law enforcement, Sutherland said. Both issues were at the heart of Boudin’s campaign and policies.
The couple spent decades investigating from their home. Among their other clients: Don Johnson, Kevin Costner, Robin Williams, Huey Newton, Snoop Dogg and carmaker John DeLorean.
Although the detective nearly retired his wife last week, he had one final case, Chapman told The Chronicle.
Sutherland said she would certainly not work in the defense team for her husband’s case, but she saw a cruel irony in which the victim attacked them.
She recalls the 1979 death of James Martin MacInnis, a prominent San Francisco lawyer, who was killed by an intoxicated driver in a car accident. Sutherland, the columnist for Chronicle, Herb Caen, weighed in at the time, noting that it was “very bad” that the driver killed the only person who could find him.
Similarly, if anyone had been able to dismiss the suspects in her husband’s case, it would have been Palladino, Sutherland said. “He never tried.”
Megan Cassidy is a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @meganrcassidy