A San Diego man who fatally restrained a fellow passenger on a downtown bus — intervening to stop an altercation with a woman, authorities said — was sentenced Friday to two years of probation.
Edward Hilbert, 56, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court a few weeks ago to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Anthony McGaff, 28, who Hilbert put in a choke hold on the bus during the ride on April 30, 2022. If Hilbert violates his probation, he faces a year in jail.
Few details emerged during the criminal case, including the severity of the altercation that led Hilbert to intervene. Hilbert pleaded guilty before his preliminary hearing, during which the prosecutor lays out key evidence.
Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco declined comment when reached after the sentencing hearing. Hilbert’s attorney, Dominic Lombardi, also declined comment when reached.
San Diego police said last year that the bus was on F Street near 14th Street just after 8 p.m. when McGaffe and a female passenger got into an altercation. Hilbert witnessed it and intervened, restraining McGaff for several minutes. McGaff lost consciousness. Police arrived to find him unresponsive. He died that night at a hospital.
Police initially arrested Hilbert on suspicion of murder, but prosecutors declined to file changes, opting for further investigation. Two months later, he was arraigned on a charge of involuntary manslaughter. At that time, Greco said Hilbert “was involved in a lawful act that he committed in an unlawful manner.”
“It is important to understand that when one gets involved to protect someone else, that that isn’t carte blanche to commit any act, that there are limits,” Greco said at the time.
Hilbert’s previous attorney, Heather Boxeth, has said Hilbert was “aiding in defense of a woman being attacked.”
At Hilbert’s sentencing hearing Friday, McGaff’s parents, James Smith and Angela McGaff, pushed back against the notion that Hilbert was acting in defense of the female passenger.
“The problem here is this idea that you were a good Samaritan,” Smith said. “This is a joke. … You ambushed my son. You held him in a choke hold on the ground with your body weight on top of him for eight long minutes.’”
Aside from the criminal case, McGaff’s mother is suing San Diego Metropolitan Transit System for wrongful death. MTS declined comment on the civil case Friday, as it remains active litigation.
According to the civil complaint, Anthony McGaff got on the bus at 14th and F streets. While he was seated, a woman started recording him with her cellphone.
He asked her to stop. She refused and they began to argue, according to the complaint, which does not describe in detail the encounter between McGaff and the woman.
According to the New York Times, which wrote about the San Diego case in early May, McGaff’s mother said prosecutors told her that her son had swatted the woman’s phone away, and when she pulled out another phone and continued to film, he attacked her.
Hilbert intervened. The suit alleges that Hilbert put McGaff in a choke hold — “the grasp getting tighter and tighter as other passengers watched in horror and disbelief,” the suit alleges.
The suit alleges that Hilbert’s height and weight “significantly exceeded” McGaff’s. The two eventually fell to the floor of the bus and the choking continued. The driver did not stop the bus.
“The choking, the pleading, the questions of whether (McGaff) could breathe and the bus driver’s refusal to stop and intervene or render assistance to (McGaff) all continued for over 8 minutes!” the complaint alleges.
The New York Times story noted similarities and differences between McGaff’s death and the May 1 death of New York subway rider Jordan Neeley, who also had been restrained by a fellow passenger.
In both cases, the victim who died was Black and the person accused in his death was White. Neeley’s killing sparked protests after the man accused of restraining him was not immediately arrested. The defendant in that case was later indicted.
City News Service contributed to this report.
