Caretaker suspected in fatal beating dies after San Francisco police melee

An in-home caretaker suspected of beating and inflicting fatal injuries upon his 96-year-old client near Occidental died Thursday morning in San Francisco following a melee involving several San Francisco police officers, authorities said.

Filimoni Raiyawa, 57, lived with Solomon Cohen, the man he was suspected of beating at Cohen’s Dupont Road home in the outskirts of Occidental.

Another person staying at Cohen’s house found the injured man and called 911 at about 4:56 a.m., reporting that it appeared the man had fallen, Lt. Carlos Basurto said.

Paramedics saw Cohen had serious head injuries, and he appeared to have been badly beaten. Cohen, who was known as “Sol” to many in the community, was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he died of his injuries at about 9:15 p.m. He was surrounded by his family, said Annie Hershfield-Cohen, the partner of Solomon Cohen’s daughter, Betsy Hershfield-Cohen.

Annie Hershfield-Cohen said Solomon Cohen moved to Occidental with his wife, Beatrice, in 1981, after working as a Kaiser Permanente pediatrician in San Francisco. The couple built an organic vineyard in Occidental that the couple was quite proud of. Beatrice Cohen died in 1985.

The men were fixtures at the Howard Station Cafe in Occidental, where they ate breakfast each morning for at least the past eight years, said Evelyn Negri, whose family owns the cafe as well as Negri’s restaurant.

“They got along,” Negri said. “(Cohen) would buy (the caretaker’s) breakfast every morning.”

Raiyawa would “never say a word,” but Cohen would like to talk about baseball, she said.

Around the time of the emergency call, Raiyawa fled the property in his blue Honda Odyssey van, Basurto said.

At about 5:30 a.m., Raiyawa’s van rear-ended a BMW stopped at Richardson Drive and Francisco Street in San Francisco. The force of the collision sent both vehicles through the intersection and into several parked cars, police said.

The BMW’s driver got out and walked over to the minivan, where Raiyawa was speaking incoherently. The BMW driver then backed away and called police, fearful because of the 6-foot, 265-pound Raiyawa’s behavior and size. The BMW driver followed Raiyawa for a block before returning to his car.

Officers responding to the collision found Raiyawa at Pierce and Lombard streets and tried to detain him. He punched one officer as she approached, striking her numerous times in the head and upper body, police said. A second female officer was thrown to the ground, police said.

Police said the confrontation was so violent that a construction fencing at a nearby dirt lot was knocked over during the struggle.

Raiyawa fled east on Lombard Street where he attempted into enter an all-night restaurant, police said, however the manager refused to open the door.

Raiyawa then fled to the front of a nearby hotel where officers again confronted him. As backup arrived, Raiyawa continued to resist arrest but the officers eventually handcuffed him and summoned an ambulance, police said.

While waiting for the arrival of the ambulance, Raiyawa suffered a medical emergency, police said. Officers and then later paramedics performed first aid and CPR, but Raiyawa was ultimately pronounced dead at the scene.

San Francisco police said two officers were transported to the hospital for injuries, one for head injuries and a concussion and another for a hand injury. Both were later released.

The department’s homicide detail and its internal affairs unit along with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office are all investigating Raiyawa’s death.

Solomon Cohen is survived by his daughter and her partner, who live in Mill Valley, as well as a son, Philip Cohen, who lives in Petaluma with his wife, Marybeth, Annie Hershfield-Cohen said.

Staff Writer Julie Johnson contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.