On the night of May 3rd, 1996, at the corner of Larkin and O'Farrell I saw at least 16 police cars, 2 police motorbikes, a police van, an ambulance, a hook'n'ladder, a pumper, a fire chief, and 2 tow-trucks. I was unsure what was going on, but it was like a Twilight Zone episode where San Francisco is just some gargantuan kid's train set, and he was playing with all of his emergency vehicles that night.
A man who was harassing guests at a sex party at the Ambika hotel crashed through a window and plunged through a skylight into the restroom of a neighboring bar. The man was an uninvited guest at the party, which involved another man being paid to dress up as a woman. The party crasher, who was high on cocaine or other drugs, harassed and threatened guests.
He was asked to leave, but he refused and began threatening to stab people with syringes.
Police called to the scene tried to subdue the man with pepper spray, but he was not affected.
He then crashed through a window to continue his rampage, running from the basement of three adjoining businesses to the roof and back to the basement. Finally he wound up on the roof of the Short Stop bar, where he either fell or jumped through a skylight to the floor of a restroom. Police finally used a beanbag gun to subdue the man.