When Jack Palladino saw two men in a car behaving suspiciously outside his San Francisco home, he did what came instinctively to him: he grabbed his camera and rushed out to confront them.
Instead of fleeing, the man in the passenger seat tried to grab his camera but Palladino, who had it on a strap round his neck, refused to give it up. As the car accelerated away, the 76-year-old was dragged 40 feet down the road before the assailant finally let go.
Palladino fell backwards and struck his head on the pavement, suffering a brain injury so traumatic that he died four days later on Monday this week.
Jack Palladino, private detective, dies at 76 after attack Tim Balk
Jack Palladino, an aggressive private eye whose high-profile clients included Bill Clinton and Harvey Weinstein, died Monday after sustaining injuries last week in a squabble outside his San Francisco home. He was 76.
Palladino had been placed on life support after two men attempted to rob him on Thursday afternoon in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
He appeared to assist in solving the crime: photographs snapped by his camera captured the suspects’ car and license plate, according to the the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
“He would have loved knowing that,” Sandra Sutherland, his wife, told The Associated Press on Monday.
He investigated his own murder : Famed S.F. detective Jack Palladino is dead
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Private Investigator Jack Palladino, August 12, 1982Eric Luse / San Francisco Chronicle 1982Show MoreShow Less
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Investigator Jack Palladino, who carried a camera and not a firearm, built his name taking on high-profile clients.Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2000Show MoreShow Less
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Jack Palladino visiting his stepdaughter and step grandkids in Portland after beginning his shift into retirement. Palladino was gravely injured in a robbery Jan. 28, 2021.Courtesy the Palladino FamilyShow MoreShow Less
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Private Investigators Jack Palladino and Sandra Sutherland, August 21, 1984Chris Stewart / San Francisco ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
He investigated his own murder : Famed S.F. detective Jack Palladino is dead
FacebookTwitterEmail
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Private Investigator Jack Palladino, August 12, 1982Eric Luse / San Francisco Chronicle 1982Show MoreShow Less
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Investigator Jack Palladino, who carried a camera and not a firearm, built his name taking on high-profile clients.Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle 2000Show MoreShow Less
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Jack Palladino visiting his stepdaughter and step grandkids in Portland after beginning his shift into retirement. Palladino was gravely injured in a robbery Jan. 28, 2021.Courtesy the Palladino FamilyShow MoreShow Less
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Private Investigators Jack Palladino and Sandra Sutherland, August 21, 1984Chris Stewart / San Francisco ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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Storied S.F. private detective Jack Palladino on life support after attempted robbery in front of his home
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Jack Palladino handled caes like the Patricia Hearst kidnapping and the Jonestown mass suicides.Chris Stewart / The ChronicleShow MoreShow Less
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Jack Palladino handled cases for many high-profile clients.Eric Luse / San Francisco Chronicle 1982Show MoreShow Less
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Jack Palladino relaxes while visiting his stepdaughter and step family in Portland after beginning his shift into retirement.Courtesy Nick ChapmanShow MoreShow Less
An attempted street robbery in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood has left storied San Francisco private detective Jack Palladino gravely injured and on life support.