California Art Gallery Owner Sprays Homeless Woman With Garden Hose; Video Sparks Outrage Online

A San Francisco man, who reportedly hosed down a homeless woman near his business, has received huge backlash online after a video of his actions went viral.

The act, which appeared to have been filmed by a passerby, was posted on Twitter on Monday by a user, who said the woman screamed for help as the man sprayed her with a garden hose.

The video might be disturbing to some viewers.

"This is horrible," the user wrote. "This awful man is spraying a homeless woman down with a hose. You can hear her yell, 'Help Me!' Does anyone recognize him? ... This is inhumane and inexcusable."

San Francisco's temperature that day hit a low of 49 F. In the video, the man is seen casually leaning against a railing and spraying the woman, who attempts to block the stream with her hands.

He then orders the woman to take her belongings and leave.

The video has so far garnered millions of views, and prompted widespread anger online, with people calling for accountability of the person seen carrying out the inhuman act.

The current condition or whereabouts of the homeless woman was not clear.

The man in question, who has been identified as Collier Gwin, the owner of the Foster Gwin Gallery in the San Francisco's wealthy neighborhood of Jackson Square, has confessed to having sprayed the woman with water to get her to move from the sidewalk near his business, according to the New York Post.

In a subsequent interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Gwin defended his actions, saying he had called the police and the social services regarding the woman, but his pleas went unheeded. He told the outlet the woman had turned over garbage cans outside his gallery.

"I said, 'You have to move, I cannot clean the street, move down.' She starts screaming belligerent things, spitting, yelling at me... at that point she was so out of control... I spray her with the hose and say, 'Move, move. I will help you,'" he told the outlet.

Gwin told KNTV that he feels the whole community has failed him.

"The whole neighborhood is a part of this situation," Gwin told the news station. "The police force is a part of this situation. The city and the social services is a part of the situation. There have been repeated attempts to try to help this woman who is psychotic."

No one has been arrested in connection with the incident so far, TMZ reports.