FiDi & North Beach Crime Roundup: Stabbings, Hot Prowls, Makeup RobberyPhoto: Geri Koeppel/Hoodline
Geri Koeppel
Published on September 19, 2015

In this week's SFPD Central Station Captain's Newsletter, Capt. David Lazar notifies everyone about big events coming up, including the Chinatown Moon Festival today and Sunday, the Kids Safety Fair from 10am–noon today at Helen Wills Playground at Broadway and Larkin Street, and Fleet Week and the Italian Heritage Parade in October. He also writes about homeless issues, personnel changes and community partnerships.

Now for this week's major crimes, culled from SFPD reports.

A 33-year-old man was sleeping on the sidewalk in the unit block of Second Street in the FiDi on Sept. 11th and awoke at 6:45am to two male suspects holding him down while a third was stabbing him. He suffered non-life-threatening wounds to his chest and hands and was taken to San Francisco General Hospital. The suspects fled in an unknown direction.

 A "hot prowl" happened at 1am Sept. 12th, when a woman, age 30, awoke to noises in her bathroom on the 200 block of Lombard Street between Telegraph Hill and the Embarcadero. She saw a man, around age 40–50, standing in her room in his underwear. He fled the residence.

A man, 41, who tried to rob a grocery store on the 300 block of Bay Street in Fisherman's Wharf at 4:20pm Sept. 13th was thwarted by pepper spray. He entered the store, grabbed some liquor and tried to flee, but store security confronted him and a struggle ensued. The suspect was pepper-sprayed, the property was recovered and the suspect was later taken into custody.

At 10:30pm Sept. 13th in the 300 block of Kearny Street in the FiDi, a man, 60, was robbed of his wallet, money and California ID. Two men in their forties approached him and one forced his head down as the second grabbed his property; they fled the scene.

Another stabbing was reported at 1:05am Sept. 14th when a man, 18, was sleeping on the sidewalk in the 700 block of Commercial Street in the FiDi and awoke to discover a man, about age 30–40, standing over him. The victim was startled and started kicking at the suspect, who then slashed at him with a knife and fled eastbound on Commercial. The victim suffered cuts to his hand and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital.

A transgender female, age 25–30, walked into a pharmacy on the 500 block of Market Street at 8:30am Sept. 15th and began concealing multiple makeup products in her purse. As she was stashing the items, a 30-year-old man approached her, and she pointed pepper spray at him. He called the police, and the suspect fled the scene in an unknown direction with the loot.

The FiDi was yet again the scene of a mugging. At 3:15am Sept. 16th, a woman was standing at Market and Drumm streets looking at her phone when two men, about age 25–35, approached her. One suspect pushed her and grabbed her cell phone, and the second suspect tried to take her purse but was not successful. Both suspects fled the scene on foot.

In the "don't take rides from strangers" department: A woman, 46, accepted a ride home at 2am Sept. 16th from a man and two women, all about age 25–30. She was picked up on the 400 block of Broadway and taken home to the 500 block of Green Street. When they arrived, the victim allowed two of them into her home, where they demanded her property. All three took off in a four-door sedan with her cell phone, laptop, money and California ID. 

Another "hot prowl" occurred at 2am Sept. 16th, when a woman, 26, awoke to noises in her apartment on the 1000 block of Washington Street in Chinatown. She got up to find a window open, and her laptop, keys, clothing and credit cards were missing.