A tortured kitten, a rooftop chase, and a drone: The case SF’s DA can’t keep behind bars 8%
By George Kelly17%
7/17/2026, 9:01:56 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Pessimism Bias, Appeal to Emotion, and Biased Writer Voice, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 21.9% saturation with 87 hits. Analysis detected 452 faulty-reasoning hits from 397 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 24.6% and a BS Rank of 8% (16,321 of 17,611 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 92.70% of the article peer group.
A 33-year-old Reno, Nevada, man was charged with felonies Friday after allegedly torturing and killing a 6-week-old kitten in an ATM vestibule on Market Street.
William Ohlson faces charges of killing, maiming, or abusing an animal, and overdrive, overwork or overload of an animal.
Given the disturbing allegations, District Attorney Brooke Jenkins lamented that Ohlson was released from jail almost immediately after his arrest.
Authorities may not keep him locked up before trial because of a recent state Supreme Court decision that limits pre-trial detention to cases involving violence against a human being.
“Although we take this case extremely seriously, and this is very, very troubling conduct, we are bound and confined by the law,” Jenkins told reporters.
She said her office would pursue every legal avenue to prevent Ohlson from possessing another animal while the case moves through the courts.
He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting a peace officer.
That stems from his attempt to elude law enforcement Tuesday by fleeing his Fell Street hotel and clambering onto the roof of an adjacent building, Jenkins said.
Officials said the San Francisco Police Department used a drone to track and apprehend Ohlson as he sought to escape.
The fire department shared a ladder, helping cops gets on top of the building.
Ohlson carried the kitten into the banking vestibule on Market Street between Laguna and Octavia at 2 a.m. on July 1, the SFPD said.
Police found the kitten’s remains nearby the following day, after a witness came forward.
Working with San Francisco Animal Care and Control, police identified Ohlson as the suspect and went to his hotel Tuesday to bring him in.
A drone spotted him on the roof, the SFPD said.
This may be the first case in which the department’s new surveillance equipment was used in an animal cruelty investigation, Chief Derrick Lew said.
Jenkins acknowledged that because Ohlson listed a Nevada address and had no permanent residence in San Francisco, there is a risk he could fail to appear for his arraignment Monday.
But flight risk and the nature of the offense are not factors that can be weighed in the current framework, she said.
If he misses Monday’s hearing, she noted, the court will issue a bench warrant for his arrest.
Analysis
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