FiDi & North Beach Crime: Teens Arrested In Purse Snatching, Robberies By Force, Hot Prowl Arrest

FiDi & North Beach Crime: Teens Arrested In Purse Snatching, Robberies By Force, Hot Prowl ArrestPhoto: Alejandro Mallea/Flickr
Nathan Falstreau
Published on February 23, 2018

Here are some notable incidents that have taken place since our last biweekly recap covering the SFPD's Central District—Chinatown, Financial District, Embarcadero, Russian, Telegraph and Nob Hills, North Beach, and Union Square. Unless otherwise noted, all reports are drawn from SFPD's daily summary.

Suspect demands money in robbery of business

On February 22nd at 10:59am on the 400 block of Sutter Street near Union Square, a robbery occurred. 

A male suspect in his early 30s walked into an area business and handed a note to a store employee demanding cash. The employee complied and handed over an undisclosed amount of money and the suspect fled the scene on foot. 

No injuries or arrests were reported in the incident. 

Four teens arrested after purse snatching

Four teenage males were arrested after robbing three women on February 20th just before 9pm on the 800 block of Clay Street in Chinatown. 

The three women, 64, 59, and 33, were walking along Clay Street when a suspect vehicle pulled over and three of the teens, aged 16-18, got out and stole their purses. The suspects then fled in the car with a fourth suspect behind the wheel. 

An investigation by police led to the eventual arrests of all four suspects. 

Victims in the incident were transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. It's not clear from reports, however, if the purses containing cash, keys, credit cards and IDs were recovered. 

Three teens arrested after cell phone grab

Three female teenagers were arrested after robbing a 47-year-old woman February 20th at 1:40pm near the corner of Green and Battery Streets in the Embarcadero. 

The victim was taking on her phone with the three girls, aged 14-19 approached and grabbed the device from her hands. The victim gave chase and the suspects split up—one headed eastbound in Green Street and the others fled southbound on Battery Street. The victim was able to follow them until police arrived and took them into custody. 

No injuries were reported. However, the phone was not recovered.

Woman held to the ground and robbed

On February 9th at 10:15pm near Waverly Place and Sacramento Street in Chinatown, a 46-year-old woman was robbed of her purse. 

Two male suspects in their 20s are reported to have held the victim to the ground while she handed over her belongings containing cash. 

After the suspects had possession of the loot, they both fled the scene on foot. 

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Woman robbed as she exited car

Near the corner of Greenwich and Taylor Streets in Russian Hill on February 19th at 9:39pm, a 43-year-old woman was attacked and robbed by an unknown male suspect. 

The victim was exiting her car when the suspect pushed her to the ground. He then reached down and "pulled her backpack from her grasp," according to police reports. The suspect then fled the scene in an unknown direction. 

The woman was injured during the incident and was transported to a hospital suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. 

Good Samaritan stabbed

A 27-year-old man was stabbed near Union Square on February 19th at 7:30pm. 

According to police, the victim saw what he believed to be a robbery in progress by two male suspects in their mid-20s. One of the suspects then stabbed the man, causing injury. 

The victim was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. No arrests have been made in the incident. 

Shoplifter stabs man as she attempts to flee

Another stabbing occurred on the 1300 block of Stockton Street in Chinatown on February 19th at 7pm. 

A woman in her mid-20s shoplifted items from an area store and attempted to flee the premises. A 33-year-old man attempted to stop her from absconding and in the process was cut with a "sharped-edge object," according to police. 

The suspect then fled the scene in an unknown direction. The victim was taking to a hospital with lacerations, but was in non-life-threatening condition. 

Man robbed at gunpoint while changing flat tire

On February 18th at 2:22am near the corner of Grant and Columbus Avenues in North Beach, a 27-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint. 

A male suspect in his mid-to-late 20s approached the victim as he was in the process of changing a tire and pointed a gun at him. The suspect purloined the victim's cell phone and fled southbound on Columbus Avenue on foot. 

Teen arrested in hot prowl burglary 

On February 17th at 1:07am on the unit block of Emery Lane in North Beach, an 18-year-old woman was arrested for committing a hot prowl burglary.  

The incident occurred in the alley adjacent to SFPDs Central Station headquarters. According to reports, the victim, a 19-year-old man, let the suspect into his apartment—the suspect proceeded to "take back a watch," according to reports. 

It's not clear from reports, however, who the watch belonged to, nor other details about how the suspect and victim may have known each other. 

Suspect points gun at employees and flees

Lastly, on February 16th at 5:30am on the 200 Block of Sutter Street in the FiDi, two men, 20 and 40-years-old, were robbed at gunpoint. 

A 20-year-old man walked into an area store and grabbed items from the shelves. The two victims followed the suspect, who then dropped the merchandise and brandished a gun. The suspect then walked out of the store. It's not clear from police reports if any items were reported missing after the incident. 

Anyone who has information about any of these incidents is encouraged to contact SFPD via the department's anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444, or text TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.

Here’s why we usually don’t include suspect descriptions in crime reports.