Photo by Flickr user Jamison
Ed. note: This is seriously the umpteenth time I’ve heard what amounts to the same story: at least two thuggy teenagers coordinate holding the back door open while the other(s) prey upon the (usually female) victim, who is texting or using the web on her iPhone, in a seat or standing by the back door. As this storyteller/witness, Mari, says: Be vigilant, and report the crimes. Also, if you can, please attend Supervisor Bevan Dufty’s hearing at City Hall at 11 a.m. this morning. The a propos topic: Muni safety. (If anyone live-tweets or liveblogs the hearing, let us know. The Twitter hashtag is #municrimehearing.)
Friday night, November 20th, I was riding the 38 Geary outbound and at the Webster stop I suddenly heard a woman shout, “Hey! Hey!” A kid (teen) had grabbed her iPhone and jumped off the bus. The woman and other passengers jumped off bus, too and to chase the culprit. Because she had gotten off the bus and left the scene, our driver couldn’t call police.
As bus continued, I heard witnesses talking, and realized I had seen the teens (approximately 13 to 15 years old) on the bus (in fact they were the only individuals under twenty on the bus). One looked very agitated and I almost thought he was concerned about missing his stop—he kept looking for someone behind him on the crowded bus. When he got up I took his seat. Then the iPhone was stolen. Others on bus talked about how the kids had been watching the victim and using non-verbal communication, had coordinated the robbery.
Saturday night, November 21st, I was again riding the 38 Geary outbound, also around the same time of night (around 10pm) that I rode it the previous night. I saw 2 teens board the bus around Van Ness, and I thought I recognized them from the night before, but wasn’t absolutely positive as this night one wore a low baseball cap and the other wore a hoodie with the hood up around his face. I watched them sitting at the back of the bus. As we got to Laguna one of them stood near the door and I saw him nod. Then a third person, in his 20s (per the victim) grabbed a woman’s iPhone and ran off the bus.
The culprits jumped off the bus. This time the victim stayed on the bus. I went up to the bus driver to tell him of the robbery and that it had happened last night and that I believed the 2 teens from the previous night were involved.
In fact, here’s the M.O.: an accomplice waits by the exit door, keeps it open so that as everyone exits the bus the robber can wait until the exit is clear of people then snatch the phone and get away. Both nights they targeted women and both women were not on the phone talking, but rather texting or surfing the web—which makes it easier to take the phone away with force.
The driver called the police and the victim, her family, and I all gave a description of what happened and who we thought were involved.
Please spread the word.
iPhone users beware. Especially on 38 Geary bus.
If you have an iPhone, be sure to register it online so that Police can track it. You must already have it registered for them to be able to track it in a situation like this.
Check out this link to learn more about registering your iPhone: http://www.apple.com/webapps/utilities/freeitracklostandfoundregistry.html
I’ve got to say, honestly, you’ve got to be a little foolish to wave your iPhone around on the bus at this point, or any nice, easy to grab gadget for that matter. The people who pull out their laptops like they’re in a perfectly safe space just blow my mind. I’ve seen a woman lose one of those in the same way you’ve just described as well.
OK, so it’s rough to blame the victim and the thieves should be caught, but please, use a little common sense people.
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Exuse me, but yes, you are blaming the victim and that is wrong. The same thing happened to me a few days ago and I was not “waving” my phone around. I was sitting in a seat discretely texting my friend who I was about to meet and a guy grabbed my phone (and punched me in the face when I tried to grab it back). We should be able to use our phone on the bus. I will never again, but don’t be so high and mighty about common sense. I have plenty of it.
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The exact same story, but on the 1 California to Geary and 33rd. It happened at the Polk stop or maybe a few stops before that, around 6:30 last Thursday.
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Don’t these buses have cameras on them?? What are these little devices used for, anyway? If the police can’t/won’t do anything about it, why don’t we collect all the pics of these little snots and post them all over the city or on a muni crime watch website? It’s likely the same people over and over again – and we’ll just keep buying more replacements.
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Higgins, you’re right! Why can’t Muni simply post the shots of the bus cameras online with a Be On The Lookout! warning?
How about put the photos on the dash board of the bus so that drivers can ping available officers to board in the interest of catching them in the act (course they’re probably boarding the back…)
Do we know if Muni officials read this site and/or comment?
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Happened to me, at the Glen Park 23 Monterey. I was foolish. Not paying attention and was honestly reading the 26 Obits on Muni Diaries. In an instant my iPhone was snatched, and after a struggle with two men, I lost the iPhone.
There were a lot of people around, happened around 1700 on a Monday…
Be aware!
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sorry to hear. did you report the theft?
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As a male, I wish some hoodrat would try to steal my phone because I would jump off the bus and chase him down. That’s the reason why these little rats go after women because they know women (mostly) won’t put up a fight or try to get the phone back. If they tried that with a dude, they’d likely get tackled and jumped.
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I saw something similar happened on the 38 going inbound. Instead of the iphone, it was a purse. She was sitting right across from the exit door. Two teens, a male and a female. The female was holding the door and the male was about to walk out the door before snatching her purse. Ugh, this needs to stop.
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My iPhone was stolen this evening on the 38L at a stop in the Tenderloin. A man ripped the phone out of my hand and ran off the bus. I grew up in this city and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to me.
I think I’ll be sticking to the Express bus from now on.
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Jem, I’m sorry to hear about this. Please report this theft, if you haven’t already.
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It happened to me yesterday in downtown. I chased him but he got away… damn it.
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Same thing happened to me last October on the 44 going towards Golden Gate Park…I was just checking the map because I was new to the area and got snatched at Silver and Cambridge…it was one kid that I chased down, but as I crossed the pedestrian bridge, the rest of he crew came up and got in a few punches before I was able to get away..
be careful y’all
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Just witnessed it happen tonight on the 38 muni outbound as the bus came to a stop @ Divisadero around 830pm. 3 ghetto black kids looking thuggish and up to no good snatched a guys iphone who was seated next to the rear exit. It was the totally same MO as described above. The dude who’s iphone got snatched chased after the black kids off the bus.
Hopefully these kids get caught someday, sent to jail, get beat up or even killed for their action, I doubt anyone will miss them. Plus their parents deserve to get slapped in the face. LOSERS!
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I wrote the comment right above yours, and here’s my reflection what what happened…
Thinking back on everything, reflection on what happened…its kinda funny how my search for what to do with my life intersects with this happening…I mean…these boys, how did they grow up to do something like this? Is this an act of desperation to get money…to possibly get food on the table? What system do we live in…what are the qualities of our school, what are our schools teaching that these boys have interpreted for themselves that stealing things and attacking random people is okay? How is life at home? Is the environment at home so violent that they don’t know how else to act? It makes you wonder what we need to do, where we need to focus at the ROOT of all this violence and inequality to start to CHANGE the way we see and do things…heck I don’t know but I want to keep looking for some type of answer…
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whoa holy shit hold the phone, “SS.” no one needs to be killed for stealing an iPhone, or anything else. punished if caught, sure. but fuck this calling for murder for thieves. sorry we didn’t flag this comment earlier.
and while the parents of teens who steal certainly deserve a substantial amount of blame, again, calling for violence is bullshit. stop that. not on this site.
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I left this as my comment on another topic related post, but I wanted to post it here, as well. I’m incredibly upset and need to get this out there! I know people are desperate these days, and the times being as they are and the way kids are brought up today, etc. etc. etc. — BUT, Muni needs to look out for their passengers — as well as their passengers being responsible themselves (yes, obviously me included) The crime against me today was violating in many ways, but it was the reaction by the driver and the OTHER passengers that has me completely disgusted and jaded! Forgive my wordiness, but I just needed to VENT and did not make time to edit.
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I was born and raised in S.F. and rode muni extensively, for many, many years. I never owned a car while living in S.F. I consider myself street smart, but I must have gone soft having moved to the East Bay and I let my guard down today on the 38 Geary. I became just another victim of iPhone theft.
Evidently, this is becoming more and more common — especially on the 38 line. In fact, I have a good friend who almost got her iPhone stolen on the 38 Geary last year. The 38 Geary is truly of the worst bus lines in the city — my opinion before the theft! Actually, I was just thinking that as soon as I boarded the 38 Geary LTD bus on Divisadero, near Kaiser! It was just before 3:30 on a Saturday afternoon.
The bus was fairly crowded and I was tired and irritated from waiting in line too long for a prescription at Kaiser. I made the fatal mistake of paying too much attention to my phone, to finish up a message I was sending while waiting for the bus. Someone vacated the seat in front of the exit and I took the seat. I was going to put some music on, as I usually do on Muni and Bart. (Especially on Muni, because it’s so irritating on lousy buses like the 38 Geary)
As the bus reached the Laguna stop, the thief slammed the hand holding my iPhone in order for it to pop up, and he ran off the bus so quickly, I barely saw him! I grabbed onto my headphones that were attached to the iPhone, as I jumped out of my seat — but of course they came right out.
People got in MY way, but no one seemed to get in HIS way. I got off the bus RIGHT after him/them but to no avail. I reached the corner and looked around…I asked people on the street if they had seen anyone running off the bus and I was told it was 2 young guys and informed which direction they went.
They were gone. My phone was gone, plus one leather glove they grabbed with the phone. I have been incredibly angry at the scum who robbed me — but more angry at MYSELF. I know better and I am usually not a “target”, nor do I act like one. I was brought up to always be aware of my surroundings. Well, I failed to do that today and look where that got me. I can barely afford to pay the bills I have now — the iPhone was a birthday gift. If I could I would put a pox on the bastards that took my phone.
It’s a good thing I had my phone set to lock with a password in 3 minutes. I immediately went to AT&T and shut down the phone. They never even got to use it. Don’t be a victim like me.
As far as the Muni driver — he did NOTHING. He was unsympathetic, he did not care in the least that a crime was commited on his line, under his watch. After the incident happened, he was still loading up passengers when I got back on the bus and told him my phone was just stolen, on the bus. He was confused as to whether it was HIS bus — I said, “?! Didn’t you hear, didn’t you SEE, what was going on?! It just happened on YOUR bus! I was just on YOUR bus!” (How could he not know?! I was yelling at people to “Stop him! Stop him! He stole my phone!”
I asked the driver if he could report it, could he call in the incident? He said I could call Muni and report it. Myself. I could call myself. He wasn’t going to do it.
!!! I was in disbelief. Thanks a LOT for nothing.
I then asked if he would wait for me for just a second, my headphones were on the sidewalk near the exit, and I wanted to retrieve them and re-board the bus.
He wouldn’t!
Before getting off, I asked if anyone had seen the incident. I had to ask a few times. Only ONE female passenger even bothered to speak to me about the incident, and said it was 2 guys wearing dark clothes. That was all she could tell me. NO ONE else uttered a word, no one offered a helping hand. What is the city coming to?! Isn’t there something that can be done?! And where are all the f**king cameras when you need them?!
WHAT can be done? I won’t be the last to suffer. This must STOP.
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This sounds just like mine. I am so sorry that happened to you but I was one stop up from where you were on the 38 and this tall guy in a dark hoodie grabbed my iphone. I was holding it close to me and sitting down sending a text and he came by and sntached my phone and ran out at Masonic. Like you none of the other passengers offered much help. When is Muni going to call a stop to this?
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The MUNI iphone thefts are becoming more violent. Anecdotally, I know two women who were punched in the face when resisting the phone theft; one was beaten more severely. In the first case, one gentleman helped the woman and she held onto her phone. In the second, no one helped at all.
Please be careful, and help out your neighbors.
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That is EXACTLY what happened to me except for getting punched in the face. I am so sorry that happened to you. You are right, MUNI should accept some responsibility for this since many users are aware and try to keep a low profile on the bus but heck, it’s a shame you have to be a prisoner in your own city. Where did yours get taken?
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