In this week's SFPD Central Station Captain's Newsletter, Capt. David Lazar reports that officers made nearly 20 auto burglary arrests in the past two weeks. He also warns people not to become victims at ATM machines, and he notes that the newsletter will now be translated into Chinese for monolingual residents. In addition, Capt. Lazar congratulated North Beach Citizens on the grand opening of the nonprofit homeless outreach group's new headquarters at 1034 Kearny St.
Now for the past week's crime recaps, provided by the SFPD.
The Psychic Who Didn't See It Coming
At about 4pm Sept. 25th, officers got a call from a woman, 46, who is the executive assistant to a building owner on the 100 block of Jefferson Street in Fisherman's Wharf. She told SFPD a commercial tenant called to complain of illegal vendors setting up on the sidewalk. She and another employee, a 42-year-old man, went to check it out and saw a woman and a man with a tarot card display.
The building owner's assistant approached the illegal vendors and tried taking pictures to document what was going on. The woman lunged at the her, demanded the phone, used profanity and grabbed the phone out of her hand. The victim tried to retrieve her phone and they got into a struggle, and the suspect's fingernails scratched the victim’s left arm. She managed to get her cell phone back. The male suspect then lunged at the female victim, but her coworker blocked him, and the suspect then pushed the coworker. The two suspects grabbed the table and cards and fled.
The next day, an officer was on patrol near Jefferson and Mason streets and observed a woman who appeared to be giving a psychic reading. He recognized her description, detained her, and booked her on an outstanding warrant. He also had probable cause to book her for conspiracy, robbery and possession of stolen property for the prior day's incident.
Stabbing In A Park
A 45-year-old man was stabbed in Woh Hei Yuen Park at Powell and John streets in Chinatown at 4am Sept. 26th. He was having a "verbal altercation" with another man, who produced a knife, stabbed him in the lower back and fled on foot. The victim was transported to San Francisco General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Restroom Arson
A man set fire to a restroom attached to a parking lot attendant office on the 400 block of Stockton Street in Union Square at 9:10pm Sept. 27th. Another man extinguished the fire and called the police. No loss or injury was reported.
Backpack & Laptop Robbery
At about 2am Sept. 29th, two men approached a 63-year old man in Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero. One punched him while the other grabbed his property. They made off with a backpack, laptops and a hard drive.
Violent Cookie Thief
A cookie thief knocked out a man during the course of a robbery. It went down at 5:45pm Sept. 29th on the 800 block of Stockton Street in Chinatown. The male suspect walked into a store and took a package of cookies. When the victim, a 66-year-old man, confronted him, the suspect pushed him into a parked car, causing him to fall back and hit the back of his head on the car. He lost consciousness and was transported to St. Francis Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect got away with the cookies.
Lantern & Scissors Burglary
A woman was arrested on suspicion of stealing a lantern and scissors at 11pm Sept. 30th on the 100 block of Francisco Street in North Beach. The suspect entered a building through a window and confronted the victim, a 55-year-old man, then took his property and fled out of the window. Officers located and arrested her.
ATM Robbery
At 8:06am Oct. 1st, a man, 31, was at an ATM on the 200 block of O'Farrell Street in Union Square when another man ran up behind him and was looking over his shoulder. When the ATM user didn't close out his transaction, the suspect pushed him out of the way and began using the ATM, allowing him to extract money. The suspect then fled the scene with cash; the victim wasn't injured.
Hot Sauce & Massage Pad Grab
Two male suspects approached a woman, 32, at North Point and Stockton streets in Fisherman's Wharf at 10:14pm Oct. 1st and snatched a bag out of her hand containing hot sauce and a massage pad. They fled the scene with the bag in a black Honda Civic.
Robbery With Gun
While a man, 38, was waiting at a bus stop on Oct. 1st, another man walked up to him and pointed a black handgun at him, then hit him in the head with it, causing him to drop his backpack. The suspect took the backpack, containing a tablet and Mexican passport, and fled to a waiting vehicle (a black four-door Toyota Camry) that fled northbound on Polk Street. The victim suffered a non-life threatening head injury and was taken to St. Francis Hospital.
