Kimberly Balde of Chicago was sitting in a minivan, along with her younger nieces and an grownup cousin, close to San Francisco’s Lombard Road on Monday afternoon when she heard a loud and startling smash.
Kimberly seemed behind her, throughout the again seat, to test on the youngsters, ages 2 and 4, who have been sitting within the third row. She noticed that the window was damaged, in addition to a male suspect, who was sporting a ski masks and black gloves. The suspect was within the midst of grabbing a bag containing a laptop computer, a passport, the youngsters’s beginning certificates, headphones and extra, she stated. The strap of the bag was wrapped across the headrest the place one of many ladies was sitting.
The older youngster exclaimed, “A ninja took your bag,” Kimberly stated.
“I didn’t actually have time to react,” Kimberly stated. “When it occurred, I heard the window smash. I seemed again and I seemed on the children they usually have been shocked. I jumped out of the automotive. It was a five-second deal.”
Whereas Kimberly was rattled, she stated that she’s relieved nobody was harm.
The San Francisco Police Division stated it responded to the incident in Russian Hill at Hyde and Lombard streets, the highest of the famed curving street, simply earlier than 3 p.m.
“The suspect took the backpack and received right into a ready automobile, which was being operated by a second unknown suspect,” the division stated in a press release. “The suspects then fled the scene.”
Smash-and-grab automotive robberies, with a thief breaking a window to steal a suitcase or purse left within the automobile, are frequent in San Francisco. It is commonplace to see the home windows of a number of vehicles, parked in a row alongside an SF avenue, all damaged.
Russian Hill falls underneath the jurisdiction of SFPD’s Central Station, which reviews extra larceny theft from vehicles than every other station within the metropolis, division knowledge confirmed. The station has seen a 179% p.c improve in reviews of theft from automobiles, when evaluating knowledge from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 of this yr with the identical time-frame final yr.
Kimberly’s sister, Katherine, was utilizing the restroom throughout the housebreaking and when she was returned to the automotive. When she noticed the damaged window, she was shocked.
“All through the entire trip, we had been on guard with the smash and grabs,” Katherine stated. “We’re conscious it’s a difficulty in San Francisco. In Chicago, it’s armed robberies, carjackings. It’s nothing new to us. However this did shock us.”
Kimberly had a monitoring system on her pc, and he or she has been capable of find the laptop computer on GPS. The police division is investigating the incident.
