Upper Haight Crime & Mayhem Roundup: Rideshare Incident, Armed Robbery, Burglary Rash

Upper Haight Crime & Mayhem Roundup: Rideshare Incident, Armed Robbery, Burglary Rash

Photo via Flickr/Evan Blaser

Camden Avery
Published on May 02, 2015

First in your Upper Haight mayhem roundup, a tale of transportation woe. We heard from tipster Elise C. this week, whose car was backed into by a Lyft driver while she was in it. The incident happened on Loma Vista Terrace Tuesday night at 9:40 pm, and follows revelations and discussions about the lack of safety training required for ride-share drivers. 

According to Elise:

I was driving southbound on Loma Vista. There was a car and a motorcycle stopped the motorcycle was going the opposite direction and the Lyft driver was stopped going southbound like me. I stopped 3 feet behind the Lyft car. The motorcyclist and the Lyft driver seemed to be having an altercation. There were at least 5 witnesses listening to their fight. The motorcyclist may have been threatening the Lyft driver. Anyway she backed up and rammed into me very hard. I hit my head on the steering wheel and was very shaken. The motorcyclist decided to leave with people chasing him writing down his license. My car was damaged and I may be injured. The Lyft driver sped off after she told me that my caras not damaged. She drove off when I was talking to a witness. I have reported the incident to Lyft, my insurance and police. 

We spoke to Lyft spokesperson Paige Thelen about this incident particularly, and about Lyft collisions generally. 

With respect to the Loma Vista incident, Thelen said, "We have been in close contact with the individual involved and will continue to help in every way we can. "

She also said that the Lyft driver from the incident had their account disabled while the incident was under review,  and added that in any emergency or collision, you should contact the Lyft critical response line.


In other mayhem, the SFPD reported an incident on the 300 block of Buena Vista East, the afternoon of Wednesday the 28th, in which three men in a Chrysler with a handgun held up a group of men  and robbed them. The car was later identified as stolen, and the suspects arrested.

In its weekly crime roundup, the Park Station also announced the arrest of a suspect associated with multiple gunpoint robberies in the area, including one at 14th Street and Noe on the 25th.
That same newsletter, dated yesterday and spanning the previous week, chronicled a rash of burglaries in the neighborhood that accounted for the vast majority of reported incidents. Types of burglary varied from in-home to vehicular. Recent months have seen an uptick in garage entries assisted by stolen or jimmied electronic garage door openers, so remember to keep valuables and remote controls out of your car when you park on the street.

Other than that, sail on and have a safe weekend.