Crestwood Behavioral Health: San Francisco Psych Facility is Site of Serious Violence, Sexual Assaults, etc.

April 22, 2026

This story includes descriptions of physical and sexual violence. Please be advised. The name of one of the main subjects (Elle) has been anonymized as her mental health remains tenuous.

It was just after midnight on Jan. 16, 2024, when a young woman ran into the hallway of San Francisco’s Crestwood Healing Center screaming, blood seeping from deep wounds on her right cheek.

The clinic’s skeleton staff rushed the patient into an office to provide care.

The woman’s assailant, her roommate, Elle, followed her into the hallway, waltzing through the locked fifth-floor facility in Saint Mary’s Hospital. In Elle’s hand was a shard from a broken CD, dripping with blood.

Police arrived at the acute mental health facility just off Golden Gate Park, where roughly 50 patients live, and arrested Elle. She was charged with aggravated mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon. The victim was taken to the hospital and received 30 stitches, according to court documents. 

Read the entire story here.