Two men were arrested in connection with the robbery attempt that left San Francisco’s famous private investigator, Jack Palladino, fighting for his life – and Palladino himself helped solve the case, police and family said.
On Sunday, authorities identified suspects in the January 28 attack as Lawrence Thomas, of Pittsburg, 24, and Tyjone Flournoy, 23, of San Francisco.
The two were arrested on suspicion of attempted theft, aggravated kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, conspiracy, false imprisonment and abuse of the elderly, as well as an extension for allegedly causing major bodily harm to Palladino, reported the San Francisco Chronicle.
Police made the arrests in the case after photos were retrieved from Palladino’s camera that the suspects tried to steal.
Palladino, who worked on high-profile cases, including Jonestown’s mass suicides to celebrities and political scandals involving clients like former President Bill Clinton and Harvey Weinstein, took his camera and left the house he shares with his wife to take pictures just before the violence.
“He went out to take pictures of people who were doing harm in the neighborhood,” Palladino’s wife and detective Sandra Sutherland told the newspaper.
While Palladino was taking pictures outside, the suspects stopped in a car and one tried to steal his camera, according to his family.
“They shot him [with the car] and tried to get the camera, which they didn’t get, “said Sutherland, adding:” Because Jack didn’t let go. “
Palladino was dragged and fell and his head hit the sidewalk before he fell unconscious, his stepson, Nick Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The private investigator was hospitalized and operated on after suffering head trauma. Palladino, who remained unconscious, was withdrawn from life support and was breathing on his own, but was not expected to survive, Sutherland said.
Sutherland said she did not know what her husband’s photos show, but the police “found this evidence very useful in arresting these two people”.
Although Palladino remained unconscious, she gave him the good news.
“I said, ‘Guess what, Jack, they got the bastards and it was all your fault,'” Sutherland told the media.
“Jack is a difficult person to control,” she said. “But I really think this is it.”
Before the attack, Palladino was ending a final case before joining his wife to retire, Chapman said.
Since the 1980s, Palladino and his wife have conducted investigations at their Victorian home in the city’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
His celebrity clients include Don Johnson, Kevin Costner, Robin Williams, Huey Newton and Snoop Dogg.
Palladino was hired by Clinton during his 1992 campaign to help discredit women who claimed to have extramarital affairs with him. Courtney Love once hired Palladino to talk to journalists who are investigating whether she played a role in the death of her husband in 1994, rock star Kurt Cobain.
His career took off even before he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley law school, when Patty Hearst’s family hired him to help investigate his 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Party.
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