The possibly fatal attack on a legendary San Francisco private investigator may have been resolved by an unlikely person: Jack Palladino himself.
City police on Sunday identified two suspects now trapped in Thursday’s violent robbery, Lawrence Thomas of Pittsburg, 24, and Tyjone Flournoy, 23, of San Francisco.
The discovery in the case came, at least partially, thanks to the victim – photos retrieved from his camera that the suspects tried unsuccessfully to steal, his family said.
Palladino, 76, remained unconscious, but received the good news during a visit from his wife and also detective Sandra Sutherland on Saturday night.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Jack, they got the bastards and it was all your fault,'” Sutherland told The Chronicle on Sunday.
Palladino, whose clients included political heavyweights and Hollywood celebrities, remained in serious condition with a serious head injury at a San Francisco hospital. Sutherland said he was removed from the life support device and was breathing on his own, but he should not survive more than a few days.
“Jack is a difficult person to control,” she said. “But I really think this is it.”
Thomas was arrested on Friday night; Flournoy was taken into custody on Saturday in Reno and arrested in San Francisco prison on Sunday morning.
Both men were arrested on suspicion of the same crimes: attempted theft, qualified kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, false imprisonment and abuse of the elderly, as well as an extension for allegedly causing major bodily injuries to Palladino. They had not yet been charged.
Palladino’s historic career includes clients of former President Bill Clinton – who according to a senior adviser hired the duo in 1992 to help suppress rumors of their extramarital affairs – to a 14-year-old boy who won a multimillion-dollar civil settlement against Michael Jackson for alleged sexual abuse.
Just before the attack, Sutherland said, her husband took off his reading glasses, grabbed the camera and ran out the door to his yellow Victorian house on 1400 block of Page Street.
“He went out to take pictures of people who were doing something wrong in the neighborhood,” said Sutherland.
As Palladino fired, the men in a car apparently saw him, Sutherland said.
“They shot him (with the car) and tried to get the camera, which they couldn’t do,” she said. “Because Jack wouldn’t give up.”
Palladino was dragged, fell and hit his head, said his stepson, Nick Chapman. He said his stepfather was briefly conscious while he was lying on the street, but he soon fell unconscious.
Sutherland said she did not know what her husband’s photos showed, but the police “found this evidence very useful in arresting these two people”.
Records show that Flournoy was one of four men the San Francisco police arrested last year in connection with the murder of 33-year-old Ronisha Cook, who was shot dead on December 19, 2019, in the 500 block of Ellis Street in the Tenderloin.
City prosecutors accused two of the men – Gary Owens, 39, and Robert Huntley, 31 – of murder and told police that more evidence was needed to open charges against Flournoy and the fourth suspect, prosecutor Chesa Boudin said on Sunday. Flournoy was launched.
“We filed murder charges against people we believe can prove that they were the real sniper and the driver of the car,” said Boudin. “At the time of the arrests, we asked the police to continue investigating the two passengers in the car, including Mr. Flournoy.”
San Bruno police arrested Flournoy and two other men on February 21, 2019, on suspicion of theft of a car. The situation in this case in San Mateo County was not immediately clarified on Sunday.
Boudin said he sympathized with Palladino’s family and praised the police for resolving the case so quickly.
Boudin, a prosecutor who promised to use his position to help curb mass incarceration, recently faced intense scrutiny about an accident that killed two people on New Year’s Eve and whether his office could have done more to prevent it.
Palladino, however, was not among those critics, Sutherland said.
“I support Chesa Boudin, and so does Jack,” she said. “And I’m sure he will do the right thing.”
Palladino and Sutherland – who have worked extensively on criminal defense teams – believe in restorative justice and that there is systemic racism in law enforcement, Sutherland said. Both issues were at the heart of Boudin’s campaign and policies.
The pair conducted investigations outside their home for decades. Among his other clients: Don Johnson, Kevin Costner, Robin Williams, Huey Newton, Snoop Dogg and the automaker John DeLorean.
Although last week’s detective almost joined his wife in retirement, he had a final case to close, Chapman told The Chronicle.
Sutherland said she will certainly not work on her husband’s case defense team, but she saw cruel irony in the victim they attacked.
She recalled the death in 1979 of James Martin MacInnis, a leading San Francisco defense attorney who was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen expressed his opinion at the time, Sutherland recalled, noting that it was “very unlucky” that the driver killed the only person who could have released him.
Likewise, if anyone could release the suspects in the case of her husband, it would be Palladino, said Sutherland. “He never tried.”
Megan Cassidy is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @meganrcassidy