He choked a clerk on the gas station floor, police say. A homeless man rushed to help

Jesse Green knew he had to do something.

Green, who is homeless, often washes windshields at a Shell Gas Station in San Francisco’s Fillmore District for spare change. One morning last week, he glanced inside the station’s mini-mart and saw a man attacking the clerk inside, reported KPIX. The attacker had pinned the woman to the floor and put her in a chokehold.

“I went inside and he’s over her, he has her covered,” Green told KGO. “You could barely see her unless you looked hard.”

Calling out for help, Green tried to pry the assailant off the clerk as two other men rushed to assist.

“He was locked,” Green told KGO. “I mean he wasn’t going to let go so like, the other guy pulled one arm and I think I pulled the other or something like that. And he just left, just like that. Didn’t say anything.”

Officers found Brian Keith Holste, 30, of Stockton, Calif., sitting on the steps of a nearby building following the incident, which occurred at 9:15 a.m. Jan. 14, according to a San Francisco Police Department press release. He was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault and burglary.

Police said Holste had purchased something from the gas station store on Turk Street, then returned about 20 minutes later and immediately grabbed the 29-year-old clerk without provocation.

The department commended Green and the others for freeing the woman before she was seriously harmed.

KPIX contacted the clerk, who told the station she did not want to discuss the incident. Green told KPIX she was shaken. “She cried for … a long time,” he said.

Green, who lives in a tent near the gas station, told KGO he doesn’t feel like a hero.

“Aren’t we all, naturally, I mean we got to help each other when we see stuff like that, right?” Green asked. “I mean, it made me start crying. It’s not something to be happy on, you know.”

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 11:06 AM with the headline "He choked a clerk on the gas station floor, police say. A homeless man rushed to help."