SF: BAKERY STABBING SUSPECT UNDER PSYCHIATRIC CARE

05/25/07 10:55 PDT
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)

The man accused of stabbing a 14-year-old girl in a San Francisco bakery Saturday remains in a padded jail cell today under psychiatric observation.

Scott Thomas, a 26-year-old parolee from Van Nuys, Calif., was unable to appear in San Francisco Superior Court this morning, where he was scheduled to enter a plea.

Public defender Susan Kaplan told Judge Lucy Kelly McCabe that her client was in a safety cell and awaiting an appointment with a psychiatric specialist.

McCabe rescheduled Thomas’ plea entry for June 7. Kaplan declined to comment about the case or on her client’s condition.

San Francisco Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Eileen Hirst said a safety cell allows an inmate to be closely watched by the jail staff.

“It is housing with padding on the walls where it would become very difficult for someone to harm themselves,” Hirst said. “It’s not unusual for someone who is housed in that unit to not be in court for arraignment.”

Bail has been denied for Thomas, who was reportedly released from San Quentin State Prison a day before allegedly stabbing the girl and a man who tried to intervene at Creighton’s Bakery at 673 Portola Drive in Twin Peaks.

The girl is expected to survive her injuries, and the man was not seriously hurt, authorities said. Neither of the victims knew Thomas.

Thomas has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of child endangerment and one count of assault with a deadly weapon.