"At one point in the harrowing footage, he appears to be stumbling toward a car, and then falling to the ground as the car drives away."<p>This was so sad to read. I bet the driver thought Lee was a dangerous or disturbed person, and he ran away.<p>I see a lot of other comments saying that our fear just comes from the media, but I don't think that's the case. I say that as a San Franciscan for two years now. I think it comes from personal experience. These are mine, in the last two years:<p>1. I witnessed the end of an extremely violent street mugging. The victim was left sobbing in a pool of blood from a head wound.<p>2. I was shoved by a disturbed person while I was recovering from knee surgery and learning to walk outside again with a knee brace. I was not hurt, thankfully, but easily could have been.<p>3. My building was broken into by a street person. He defecated in the hallway. Police had to convince him to leave. He was not charged. (Also, I drew the short straw for the cleanup. Not fun!)<p>4. I've also seen many disturbed individuals in states of extreme distress. Some of these people have left lasting images in my mind. A lady in a wheelchair who sleeps outside, screaming at the top of her lungs at some attacker. An extremely young female wandering dazed, out her mind, who apparently hadn’t noticed the feces that collected in her pant leg. Lots of unconscious people (likely due to fentanyl) in what should be super painful positions. There’s so much pain, just, on the streets outside my apartment...<p>5. There are also large encampments nearby with what appear to be dozens of possibly stolen bicycles. Once, a person in this encampment shouted at me angrily. (I ran away.) Just a couple blocks away, a tent caught fire, and it spread to the nearby apartment. No one was hurt, thankfully.<p>When you encounter these situations on a regular basis (and when your friends report similar personal experiences--again, not news media!), your reaction to someone strange approaching you is to run away. You become conditioned to anticipate negative interactions, or violence, and as an act of self-preservation, you avoid/run.<p>I've often wondered what would happen to me if I had a heart attack, on the streets nearby. Would someone think I've just had a nap from the drugs I’ve just used?<p>Don't get me wrong, these are just the bad parts of living in the city; and there's SO MUCH good. Outdoor and indoor activities, club sports, transit and walkability, shops and restaurants, and I've made so many friends. For me, the good very much outweighs the bad. I just wish there was less bad. :)