San Francisco bar owner arrested for baseball bat attack after parking dispute
Cyril Hackett, 63, owner of Mad Dog in the Fog and Kezar Pub, was arrested early Saturday after allegedly attacking a shop employee with a baseball bat following a parking row.
SF bar owner Cyril Hackett jailed over alleged baseball bat assault in Upper Haight
Cyril Hackett, 63, the owner of three San Francisco bars including Mad Dog in the Fog and Kezar Pub, was arrested in the early hours of Saturday after allegedly returning to a neighbouring shop with a baseball bat and attacking an employee — hours after a parking dispute on Haight Street, sfstandard.com reports.
According to the San Francisco Sheriff's Office, Hackett was booked into jail at 1:17 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of second-degree robbery and assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm.
Parking row turns violent eight hours later
The incident began on Friday afternoon outside Further, a Grateful Dead-themed clothing shop at 1580 Haight St., a few doors down from Mad Dog in the Fog. A Further employee had been waiting to park a van in front of the shop when Hackett pulled up in his white BMW hatchback and attempted to take the space, according to witnesses who spoke to sfstandard.com on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
Cellphone footage shows Hackett reversing into the employee's van, prompting a heated verbal exchange with the employee and onlookers. A friend of the employee can be heard on video telling Hackett: "You hit my friend, you jackass." The standoff eventually ended without further incident, with a friend of the employee taking the parking spot, and both parties going their separate ways.
Approximately eight hours later — well after Further's 7 p.m. closing time — Hackett allegedly returned to the shop. The employee and a friend were inside watching television when Hackett allegedly forced his way through the door carrying a baseball bat. Surveillance footage shows a man matching his description entering the store, striking something with the bat, grabbing a jacket from a rack and attempting to leave. An employee can be seen pursuing him out of the shop.
A person familiar with the situation told sfstandard.com that the footage does not capture Hackett striking the employee in the leg before attempting to drive away. Bystanders intervened, with one blocking Hackett's car until police arrived. The employee called 911 during the confrontation.
The San Francisco Police Department declined to provide details about the case, stating that outside of business hours it only comments on current breaking incidents.
Hackett could not be reached for comment.
A long-standing figure in the Haight bar scene
Hackett, who emigrated from Ireland in the 1980s, has been a fixture of the Upper Haight neighbourhood for decades. He has owned Kezar Pub on Stanyan Street — located across from Kezar Stadium — for roughly twenty years, building it into a popular destination for San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles fans as well as international soccer and rugby supporters.
His flagship venue, Mad Dog in the Fog on Haight Street, carries considerable cultural weight in the neighbourhood. Bay Area rock band Train, which recently released an album named after the bar, drew thousands to Haight Street last month for a free block party outside the pub. Frontman Pat Monahan has long credited Mad Dog in the Fog — then at its original Lower Haight location — as one of the first venues to pay the band to perform, saying the group came together there 32 years ago. Hackett appeared alongside Mayor Daniel Lurie at the August event to introduce the band on stage.
In May 2025, Lurie's office cited Hackett in an announcement regarding a new professional soccer team set to play at Kezar Stadium, quoting him on the economic benefit it would bring to local businesses.
The bar has also hosted political gatherings. In September 2024, the San Francisco Republican Party held a presidential debate watch party at Mad Dog in the Fog that drew approximately 200 Trump supporters — an unusual Republican event in one of the city's most left-leaning neighbourhoods.
Last month, state records show that a company controlled by Hackett acquired the liquor licence for Murio's Trophy Room, a Haight Street dive bar originally opened in 1959 by tennis professional John Murio. Through a separate family business, Hackett also co-owns the Emerald Forest Christmas Trees and Great Pumpkin Patch lot on Sloat Boulevard.
Further: a new addition to the neighbourhood
Further opened in February this year, according to city records and its owner, who goes by Z. The shop's name is a nod to Furthur, the bus Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters famously drove across the United States in the 1960s.
Z, who was out of town when the altercation occurred, described the shop as a neighbourhood gathering spot intended to reflect the spirit of the Haight-Ashbury. "It's like a hangout place," Z said. "I try to treat everyone with love and respect."
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)