Gun-toting felon, bailed by SF judge, ordered detained by US magistrate judge after federal prosecution
A felon found with a loaded semi-automatic pistol at the Tenderloin apartment block where he worked, had his bid for pretrial release rejected by a federal judge today – months after a San Francisco judge bailed him on state charges arising from the same incident.
After Darryl Rushing’s November 2023 arrest, and a decision days later by a San Francisco judge to free him on an ankle monitor, federal prosecutors moved to indict him and pressed another judge – this time in district court – to keep him imprisoned pending trial.
“Between your criminal history, with the convictions as well as the shootings, and the proffers that the Government is making that…you were still associating with the Eddy Rock gang, I have some concern,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros this afternoon as she ordered that the defendant remain in custody.
Rushing is charged with one count of ‘being a felon in possession of a firearm’. He has been in federal custody since he first appearance in federal court in January, but only recently exercised his right to a hearing to review his detention status. He had been hoping to be released to an addiction and mental health program.
Cisneros’ decision will likely herald a guilty plea from Rushing who will next appear before U.S. District Judge Rita Lin on April 4.
Police were called to an apartment building on Turk Street on the evening of November 4 2023. A female resident told them that a man had attempted to kick her door down.
Officers spoke to Rushing, who was behind the front desk of the building, and who was wearing red-colored pants which the resident had said the man she saw was wearing.
An evidently unhappy Rushing then asked for the name and badge number of one of the officers. However, as he leaned over to write it down, he inadvertently exposed a holstered firearm he was wearing underneath a sweatshirt, leading to his arrest.
The firearm was a .40 caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol, equipped with an extended magazine containing 15 rounds, one of which was in the chamber.
It had been stolen in Texas in 2019.
Four days later Rushing appeared for arraignment in San Francisco Superior Court and pleaded ‘not guilty’ to four felony and one misdemeanor firearms charges.
At that hearing Judge Victor Hwang ordered him released with an ankle monitor.
San Francisco District Attorney’s office had filed a motion to detain Rushing, citing “clear and convincing evidence” that his release would neither protect the public nor secure his return to court.
Nine days later the judge authorized increased flexibility in his release conditions because of “verified employment through PBS Staffing” which had variable hours and locations.
On January 3 2024 Rushing appeared for a preliminary hearing at which Judge Patrick Thomson granted a motion to dismiss, having been told that a federal prosecution had been initiated.
Rushing was arrested the next day the next day and booked into federal custody.
Rushing is perhaps best known for a 2015 San Francisco home invasion robbery in which a 90-year-old man was hit in the head and robbed of hundreds of dollars in cash.
Later that same year, police conducting a traffic stop on a vehicle in which Rushing was a passenger found a stolen .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol underneath his seat. He fled on foot and then resisted attempts by officers to apprehend him before being subdued.
And in 2020 he attacked a cyclist riding on Golden Gate Avenue, leaving his victim with a broken wrist before driving his Lexus car over the bike.
On December 16 2020 officers from SFPD’s gang task force, accompanied by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, raided the Oakland home of an Eddy Rock gang member. Rushing was one of a number of gang members who attempted to flee, later being found hiding underneath a parked vehicle. A search of the property uncovered a cache of weapons one of which, a Glock pistol, was linked by DNA to him.
In May 2022 Rushing was shot in the right leg, suffering a damaged femoral artery, in what he claimed was an instance of being “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
And in September 2022, police allege that Rushing, armed with a “Draco” assault rifle vandalized a memorial to a slain gang rival. Two months later Rushing himself was shot in the head, leaving him blind in his right eye.
Today in Courtroom G of San Francisco Federal Courthouse U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Cisneros determined that Rushing was too dangerous to be released.
“The circumstances of your arrest along with your prior criminal history, and the activity that the Government is proffering, I think all together creates a situation that there isn’t a reasonable assurance on the part of the public that you won’t pose a danger if you are released,” Cisneros said.
Rushing will next appear on April 4 before U.S. District Judge Rita Lin.
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