Han Shin, the man accused last year of stalking Mayor Gavin Newsom and trying to run over his ex-boyfriend's roommate, found himself in trouble again this week after he allegedly rammed his car into the driver of another vehicle following a traffic accident near the Bay Area Reporter 's South of Market offices. It is the second time in 18 months that Shin has been accused of trying to run someone over.

The latest incident occurred around noon Wednesday, July 9 at the intersection of 9th and Harrison streets. Police arrested Shin, 43, who was wearing sandals, yellow shorts cut above the knee, and a yellow and black patterned silk collared shirt, and charged him with aggravated assault with an automobile weapon. As of Friday, Shin remained in San Francisco County jail.

According to police, Shin and another driver were involved in a traffic accident after which Shin allegedly drove his Toyota Corolla LE into the other driver.

"There was some type of prior contact between the two. When the victim stopped at the traffic light, the suspect drove into the victim's vehicle intentionally," said police spokesman Sergeant Neville Gittens.

After the accident, "then the suspect intentionally ran into the other person," added Gittens.

According to eyewitness accounts, soon after the accident Shin walked toward the B.A.R. offices on 9th Street. Another driver warned him that he was leaving the scene of an accident. A B.A.R. staffer was later told that he'd hit both vehicles and had asked, "Where's the Bay Area Reporter?"

According to the staff member, Shin entered the office whimpering and carrying large, rolled up pieces of paper, folders, and a bag loaded with more papers.

Not knowing about the accident, staff asked if there was something wrong, and if he wanted them to call police.

Shin replied, "I'm afraid of the police." That's when staff members recognized him and one staffer told Shin he remembered him as the person who was found in Mayor Newsom's apartment building.

Shin adopted a somber, serious tone and asked, "What do you know about it?" After that, he started babbling incoherently.

When Shin started to open a small gate that leads past the B.A.R. 's front desk, as if he wanted to come back and talk to staff, he was told, "Just leave, just get out."

Shin got huffy, grabbed his things, and as he turned to leave yelled back, "Fucking fags!"

Back outside, Shin, who'd been screaming during much of the accident's aftermath – at one point, a police officer tugged on his shirt in an apparent attempt to get him to calm down – eventually appeared to be in better spirits.

As he stood outside the Vagabond Inn, which is next door to the B.A.R., he raised his hands in the air, shimmied, and sang part of the Brenda Lee classic "I'm Sorry." Shin also rambled, invoking the names of Madonna and Benjamin Franklin as an officer stood a few feet across from him.

Shin, a new age author and beauty contestant organizer, didn't resist as police handcuffed him moments later and led him away.

In February 2007, Shin was caught trying to break into Newsom's Pacific Heights apartment building and was charged with stalking the debonair politician. He reportedly had been seen photographing the mayor below the waist at a public event and aggressively grabbed Newsom.

Shin denied the charges, but a San Francisco Superior Court commissioner issued a three-year restraining order against Shin, ordering him to stay at least 100 yards from Newsom.

Later that month Shin faced numerous charges in Contra Costa County, including one count of first-degree residential burglary, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon and one count felony vandalism stemming from a February 28 incident in San Ramon.

Prosecutors alleged that Shin went to the home of his former lover to confront him, but when the man wasn't at home, Shin allegedly barged into the residence, took some money and a photograph of the former boyfriend and left. The man's roommate followed Shin outside, according to police, and Shin allegedly tried to run him over three times with his car.

Most of the charges were later dropped after it was revealed that the victim and a friend had been using Shin in a mortgage scam against Shin's parents. Shin's father, Dong Shin, told the Oakland Tribune that, "My son has been mentally ill for 20 years. They took advantage of my son's mental illness and took his money."

However, his brother, Michael Shin, told the paper that he was not concerned about Han Shin's mental health but seeing that his diabetes was properly taken care of while he was in jail.

"I'm not concerned about his mental health," he said. "My only concern is that he needs insulin."

According to the Tribune, the three charges of assault with a deadly weapon were reduced to a single charge of assault by force likely to cause great bodily injury. A felony vandalism charge and a burglary charge were dropped. The paper reported that Han Shin had served the required jail time on the Contra Costa charge and would be placed on two years of probation as part of a plea agreement.

In a phone interview with the B.A.R. earlier this year Shin denied that the East Bay man was his lover and said that he does not identify as a gay man.

"He was not my boyfriend; he owed me $75,000. They set me up. It is a long, complicated story," said Shin.

He also railed against the local media for how it portrayed him following his arrest for stalking Newsom, complaining he appeared as a mad killer in news stories.

"The media try to portray me as Dan White, the one who assassinated George Moscone," said Shin. "They said I was stalking Gavin Newsom and the next clip was Dianne Feinstein," announcing both the murder of then-Mayor Moscone and openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk by White, a disgruntled former supervisor.

"The media trying to portray me as new Asian Dan white," added Shin. "I don't understand how so many people have said so many things about me without referring with me."

Shin then insisted that he has known Newsom for years and that his father, whom he said was a political consultant, predicted the mayor would one day serve in the White House. He said his following Newsom was not sexually motivated but politically based.

"It is my father who said Gavin will be the president," said Shin. "Why do you think Gavin Newsom is so attracted to me? He knows I can put him into the White House. It was a political marriage; it had nothing to do with sex."

"I don't know where people made up these stories." added Shin.