S.F. officer combatting break-ins is hit by car
A fleeing suspect purposely struck a San Francisco police officer near Alamo Square on Thursday during an undercover operation targeting auto break-ins, authorities said.
The plainclothes officer, who was not identified, is expected to recover, while the driver and another suspect were taken into custody.
Police from the city’s Northern Station were conducting surveillance near Alamo Square around 11:50 a.m. when a man was allegedly spotted breaking into cars near Hayes and Pierce streets. An undercover officer on a bike approached the man, police said, when a driver parked nearby sped up and rammed into the officer and the break-in suspect, both of whom were treated by paramedics at the scene.
The driver fled the scene but eventually crashed eight blocks away at Buchanan and Haight streets after a short chase, police said.
Investigators scoured the neighborhood for additional suspects and are looking into whether anyone else was involved.
Officials said the incident highlights the dangers field officers face — and the increased brazenness of auto break-ins — as the Police Department deploys resources to combat the city’s auto break-in epidemic, which reached a record high last year.
“We conduct these operations seven days a
week, several times a day,” police spokesman Officer Robert Rueca said at the scene. “This is one in broad daylight. This is an area of a high volume of crime — of auto break-ins, that is.”
Erin Ge, 51, of Orlando said that her car had just been broken into when the plainclothes officer approached the suspects. She and her husband, along with two friends, were taking photos at Alamo Square when they heard sirens.
My husband “was trying to remember where he parked the car and then he saw the guy smash our car window with a hammer,” Ge said. “He ran back and saw the police officer tackle the guy. Everything happened so quickly.”
The suspect tried to steal the couple’s carry-on luggage and a backpack before the officer intercepted the rip-off, said Ge, who arrived in San Francisco just hours earlier.
“What a welcome, right?” she said. “I heard about (the car break-in problem) before we arrived here. We were very careful. We took our ID, money and purse with us wherever we were.”
Aida Jones was walking to a yoga class near the scene Thursday morning when she spotted the suspects’ vehicle, a black four-door sedan, speeding through the neighborhood. She tried to wave the car down, she said, but stopped after noticing a police car in pursuit.
“I’ve seen that car twice in the same month and it was always a smash-and-grab,” Jones said. “It’s the same guys.”
Officials said auto burglars often work in teams, with some acting as lookouts and others as getaway drivers, while an accomplice goes down a line of parked cars, smashing windows and grabbing anything in sight.
San Francisco’s landmarks are favorite destinations for such criminals. Alamo Square, in particular, has been a favorite target due to the tourist draw from the Victorian homes along Steiner Street known as the Painted Ladies.
The Police Department recorded roughly 30,000 car break-ins in 2017 in San Francisco — up 26 percent from the previous year and nearly triple the number seen five years ago.
Officials have adopted new strategies to combat the problem, including the deployment of foot patrols to problem areas and assigning dedicated officers to focus on property crime at district stations.
Thursday’s incident is the second time in recent months that a San Francisco police officer on a bike has been struck and injured by a suspect fleeing in a vehicle.
In October, 32-year-old Officer Elia Lewin-Tankel was critically injured by a suspect driving in the Tenderloin.