San Francisco prosecutors dropped an assault case Tuesday against a homeless man who beat the city’s former fire commissioner with a crowbar and will instead consider charging the ex-firefighter for “instigating” the incident.

Sources close to Don Carmignani, the retired fire commissioner, told the New York Post about the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office decision to no longer pursue charges against accused assailant Garrett Doty.

Lawyers for Mr. Doty argued that the attack wasn’t senseless because the 53-year-old retired firefighter instigated the assault by pepper spraying the homeless man.

Local Fox affiliate KTVU reported Tuesday that lawyers for Mr. Carmignani were informed about the San Francisco DA’s intent on bringing charges against the retired fireman for inciting the assault.  

The defendant’s legal team cited eight separate incidents where a man fitting Mr. Carmignani’s description carried out unprovoked attacks on homeless people with bear spray, according to the San Francisco Standard.

Mr. Carmignani suffered a puncture wound to his skull and was in the ICU for several days following the attack on April 5.

Mr. Doty, 24, was on the street outside the home of Mr. Carmignani’s mother when the two came into conflict.

A bystander video shared with the Post showed a man believed to be Mr. Doty removing a metal rod from a trash can while standing with two other transients in the house’s driveway.  

Another video shared with the Post shows Mr. Carmignani bleeding and backing away from the assailant at a gas station as the attacker swings the crowbar.

Mr. Carmignani is seen wiping blood from his face in the video when the assailant strikes him in the head. The ex-firefighter was hit in the head again before being chased down a sidewalk.

“If Don did something to him first, I guess you could say the first hit was self-defense, but not the next 10. It’s frickin’ ridiculous,” Larry Mazzola Jr., a longtime friend of Mr. Carmignani’s, told the San Francisco Examiner. “The city is putting San Franciscans in these positions to defend themselves and interact with the homeless. Like the guy who sprayed the homeless person with the hose, the city put him in that position.”

Mr. Carmignani pleaded guilty to misdemeanor domestic violence in 2016, according to SFGate. 

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.