Shocking video shows tourists thrown from vehicles as they try to stop brazen thieves from speeding off with their belongings during a violent robbery in a popular San Francisco area.
Dmitry Koval, the victim who posted the video to Instagram, told The Post that he and his friends were hoping to enjoy the view and get something to eat at the Fort Mason Center lot in Marian County on Sept. 13.
The group was already crossing the parking lot at about 4pm when they saw a black SUV park next to their two vans.
They watched in horror as two suspects got out of their vehicle and broke into their vehicle.
“We saw them take the bags from our van and start putting them into the black SUV,” said Koval, 30. “That’s when my friends started running and other people there honked. I heard someone yell, ‘Don’t run at them! They might have a gun!’
Shocking video shows San Francisco tourists thrown from moving vehicles as they try to stop carjackers in broad daylight at Fort Mason Center.Dmitry Koval
“But my friends are already trying to stop them so I can’t leave them.”
As Koval’s friends tried to surround the vehicle, the driver of the black SUV stepped on the gas.
One of Koval’s friends leaned on the driver’s side window and ran with him in an attempt to gain control of the wheel.
Another of his friends also stopped the moving vehicle and tried to thrash the other suspect who was sitting on the passenger side.
“We even broke the windshield with sticks hoping it would stop them,” Koval wrote in his Instagram post. “However, the thief was able to turn the wheel and push the gas inside.”
The robbers made off with cash, computers and other items worth about $10,000 from Koval and his friends. Dmitry Koval
Within seconds, the driver sped off at high speed, throwing the friend who was holding the driver onto the asphalt. He rolled on the ground several times, causing burns all over his body.
The other victim held onto the passenger side of the robber’s SUV for another 100 feet before he too was thrown violently from the vehicle, Koval told The Post.
The men suffered minor to serious injuries, with one of them spending several days in a local hospital because he broke his leg in the fight.
Koval said that before the brazen daylight robbery, they had parked in another location to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge. They were alarmed, however, when they saw a vehicle had been broken into in the lot as well.
One of the men who tried to stop the robbers suffered deep cuts and skin burns. Dmitry Koval
The man suffered minor to serious injuries during the chaos.Dmitry Koval
“We thought we would be safer if we went somewhere else so we went to the Fort Mason lot,” Koval said. “I’m still surprised because everything happened so fast. In total, they may take about $10,000 worth [of items]including laptops and other important things like our documents and passports.”
Car break-ins have become so common in the Bay Area that law enforcement officials and locals alike have a name for it.
“It’s called ‘bipping and boosting,'” San Francisco Lt. Tracy McCray told The Post, referring to the slang term used for vehicle smash-and-grab incidents that have become common in San Francisco, Oakland and other parts of Northern California.
A road sign reads “Safety Alert-Smash and Grab Hotspot” near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Daytime vehicle break-ins have become so common in San Francisco neighborhoods like Alamo Square and Japantown that Supervisor Dean Preston called for a hearing to address the city’s beeping epidemic, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The City by the Bay has been hit not only by an increase in thefts and robberies but also experienced another record high of drug overdoses with about 85 deaths last month.
A car with a broken window is seen in Alamo Square in San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Car break-ins have been at epidemic levels in the Bay Area. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Certain increases in crime, fatal overdoses and the displacement of businesses in San Francisco’s once-busy downtown tourist corridor have also contributed to the city’s “loop of doom.”
Koval, who lives in Massachusetts, said he had visited San Francisco several times before, but he had never experienced such a traumatic event as the one that unfolded in front of him last week.
He said the only solace he got from the incident was from people who saw the robbery and immediately helped his friend and called the police.
“It was traumatic and it made me think that we should just avoid San Francisco because it’s not safe anymore,” he said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
