A driver in San Francisco got angry — apparently because he had to stop at a crosswalk. You know, the thing you're legally required to do. Rather than taking a deep breath and waiting the eight seconds it takes for a pedestrian to cross, this guy parked his car, got out, chased a woman down the street, and doused her with some kind of liquid. Then he got back in his Tesla and drove off like a man with places to be.

The whole thing was caught on video, including a clear shot of his license plate.

As one local put it: "What even would his defense be? 'Yes, your honor, I didn't have time to wait at the crosswalk, but I had plenty of time to park my car, chase down a stranger, and commit battery.'" Hard to improve on that summary.

Let's be clear about what this is: it's assault. Whether the liquid was water, soda, or something worse, deliberately chasing someone down and throwing liquid on them is battery under California law. It doesn't matter what's in the container. Another SF resident nailed it: "Assault ain't no funny thing" — and it shouldn't be treated as one by prosecutors, either.

This is exactly the kind of case that tests whether San Francisco's justice system is actually serious about public safety. We have video. We have a license plate. We presumably have a victim. The question is whether SFPD and the DA's office will treat this with the urgency it deserves, or whether it'll join the ever-growing pile of incidents that get shrugged off because nobody was hospitalized.

Pedestrians in this city already deal with enough — reckless drivers, crumbling sidewalks, and an infrastructure that often seems designed to make walking as miserable as possible. The absolute bare minimum we should expect is that you can cross the street without being chased down by someone having a meltdown.

If you recognize this driver or have additional footage, report it to SFPD. And to the person who captured that plate number: nice work. Let's see if the system does its part.