12 Aug 20th - Aug 26th, 2026 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | “If she denies it, then ultimately we just wasted 911 calls,” one of the security guards can be heard saying to the pair in the video. Later, a security guard said it wasn’t the EMTs job to call. In the end, Spencer called 911. By the time the firefighters arrived, she and Elicia, who’d stumbled across the security guards and EMT helping Anna while out providing aid, had been on the scene for about 15 minutes. “I still regret, like, feeling like they had any type of authority because there were so many hesitations that I did,” Elicia said. “If they’re behaving like this while we were around them, then how are they behaving with every other call? I swear she was practicing her vitals. That’s fucked up.” A mishmash of service providers and police Anna’s emergency occurred on a curved stretch of road at 11th Avenue and Jackson Street. Known as the Andre House Curve, it’s sandwiched between the Key Campus and the Andre House of Hospitality. Andre House is an independent nonprofit service provider. Keys to Change runs the Key Campus, a service hub for homeless people that the city partially funds. Office of Homeless Solutions spokes- person Kristin Couturier directed Phoenix New Times to reach out to Keys to Change about the incident because while the city contracts with Keys to Change, she wrote in an email, it does not hold the contract with the security company, Lionheart Security Services. Keys to Change CEO Amy Schwabenlender said that the organization contracts with Lionheart but only for services on the campus. The same applied for the EMT, who is contracted through a different vendor. She was unable to identify the people involved or the company that employed the EMT. “The incident referenced did occur off of the Keys to Change property,” she wrote in an email. “It is up to any organization to respond to emergencies where they feel compelled and in alignment with their values of helping people in need.” Lionheart security guards work to keep a scene clear during an emergency so first responders can access it, Ethan Caen, the general manager of Lionheart Security, wrote in an email.” After verbal requests to step back were disregarded, officers physi- cally relocated the individuals outside the immediate danger zone to restore access for emergency crews and to ensure public safety,” he wrote. The company reviewed the incident internally and found that the guards acted within protocol. Disbanded in 2023 because of a court order, the Zone exists today in a smaller form, with fewer people and tents. In July, to remain in compliance with that order, the city cleared people from the Andre House Curve and set up barricades closing down the stretch of road through the weekend. The city said the police sweep — larger than other sweeps, and conducted without the usual warnings — was a planned operation between the Office of Homeless Solutions, the Phoenix Police Department and some of the city’s nonprofit partners. Seven people were arrested for felonies, according to the city, and 18 were “contacted” for trespassing and camping and were either arrested for existing warrants or issued citations. Cisco, the man whose umbrellas were broken, told New Times that he was in the area when the sweep happened on Aug. 6, but he’d moved his stuff in time to avoid getting caught up in the barricades. He and others set up again in new spots just outside of the closed stretch of street. Officers have come by since, he said, but not in force and only to tell them to move. The hellish heat is a larger concern. “We were camping over there,” he said, pointing across the street to a spot just outside of the barricades where he’d set up after the sweep. “It seems like we get more sun on this side.” Couturier said the city’s focus after police were finished was connecting people to services, including heat relief. The office “contacted 33 people and 15 people accepted placement,” she wrote in an email. “It’s possible there is overlap with the people who were cited and the people we placed, but that’s not something we specifi- cally tracked,” she wrote. ‘Clearly that was assault’ People living on the streets are at risk for heat-related illnesses and possible overdoses during heat waves, advocates said. Police enforcement pushes people to move more frequently and limits their access to shade. In triple-digit summer heat, situations like Anna’s are bound to increase. Elicia was right to call 911 that day, said Elizabeth Venable, the lead organizer and cofounder of the Fund for Empowerment. She was also out on the streets that weekend providing heat relief. She doesn’t understand why the security guards and EMTs didn’t call 911, but she wasn’t surprised. Homeless service providers often employ low-paid contractors who don’t have proper training, she said. “They’re some of the weakest links, and some of the most disrespectful,” she said. If the contractors were on the clock, she said, Keys to Change and the city should take responsibility for their shoving Elicia and Spencer. “Clearly that was assault,” said Venable. “They have no authority as security guards to shove people like that.” Elicia and Spencer left the area once they knew Anna was safe with the firefighters. Elicia wished they’d taken out the heat gun sooner. She remembered the feeling of sitting on the 140-degree blanket with Anna, holding her up and trying to keep her conscious. “It was burning. It was burning so bad,” she said. “It was just such a fuck-up for us to not start immediately with the temperature on the ground if heat exhaustion is abso- lutely playing a part. She cannot cool down, even if there’s ice bags on top of her.” Sidewalk Standoff from p 10
