Erin Ge, visiting San Francisco from Orlando, Fla., with her husband and two friends, knew about the city’s auto-burglary problem.
So when they parked near Alamo Square to take some photos Thursday, they took their IDs and other valuables with them. But when Ge’s husband tried to find their vehicle, he discovered a thief had broken a window and was trying to drag luggage from the vehicle, reported The San Francisco Chronicle.
“What a welcome, right?” said Ge, who had just arrived in San Francisco a few hours earlier.
That’s when a plainclothes police officer on a bicycle intervened. And then things got really wild.
A video released by the San Francisco Police Department shows the incident unfold. Two men jump out of a black four-door sedan double-parked next to Ge’s vehicle on Hayes Street about 11:50 a.m. Thursday.
After they break into the vehicle, the officer tackles one of the men. The other jumps into the sedan, which backs up, hitting the officer and the suspected thief. Another officer pulls out his gun and points it at the driver, who speeds off.
“Sounded like a car hit another car and I looked over and I see a car flying up in the air with a guy rolling out from under it,” witness Jason Mcavoy told KGO.
The sedan fled about eight blocks before hitting another vehicle at Haight and Buchanan streets, where police arrested the driver, the station reported. The other passenger was arrested after a chase on foot.
The officer and suspect hit by the car were treated by paramedics and are expected to recover, reported The San Francisco Chronicle.
About 30,000 auto burglaries were reported in San Francisco in 2017, a 26 percent jump from 2016, the publication noted.