Crime Beat: Strongarm Robbery

Information is from Mission and Ingleside District San Francisco Police Station newsletters.

March 6

Robbery -- 9:16pm, Church/Valley St.. Two men assaulted and robbed a pedestrian of his wallet, cash, bank cards, and identification. The victim told Ingleside Officers McMilton and Peregrina that he was walking on Church Street near Valley, when two men wearing “Hoodies” approached him and asked for money. When the victim said he didn’t have any funds, one of the suspects punched him in the nose causing the victim to fall to the ground. The suspects then reached into the victim’s pocket, took his wallet, and ran away.

Crime Beat: Aggravated Assault On Day St

Information is from Mission and Ingleside District San Francisco Police Station newsletters.

June 8, 2013

Aggravated Assault -- 10:25pm, 100 Blk Day St. Officers McMilton and Peregrina responded to an aggravated assault. They located a victim who was bleeding profusely from the head area and immediately summoned an ambulance to the scene. The reportee was on scene and told them that he was leaving his home when he saw a male hitting the victim over the head several times with a baseball bat. The victim then fell to the ground and the reportee called the police. The suspect fled toward Church but the witness said he would not be able to identify him.

The officers attempted to speak with the victim who said he could not recall the events clearly. He told them that he was walking down the street and saw the suspect pass him, but did not think anything. Suddenly, he said, he was hit from behind, but did not know with what. He told the officers he would be unable to recognize the suspect if he saw him again.

The officers took pictures of the victim’s injuries and assisted the ambulance with the transportation to the hospital. There were no other witnesses at the scene and no surveillance cameras were located in the vicinity.

SFPD Releases Sketch Of Sexual Assault Suspect

The San Francisco Police Department released a sketch this afternoon of the suspected 23rd and Guerrero sexual assault attacker. He's described as a Hispanic man, roughly 25 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 160 pounds and was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt the night of the attack (click the image for a larger view).

If you have any info that might help the police in this investigation, call the SFPD's anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444.

Crime Beat: Woman Narrowly Escapes Violent Attack

This scary story is lighting up the local email lists:

Hello -

If you're getting this email its because you are a female friend in my circles, live in my neighborhood-ish, or have a large circle of women friends. I wanted to spread the word of what happened to me so hopefully you and your circles can be more aware, street smart and vigilant about your personal safety.

On Saturday evening I was walking home from a friends potluck through the mission when I was attacked - an attempted rape. I was actually being quite conscious of those around me due to the fact that I'm heading to Nairobi in several weeks and personal safety has been on my mind. As I turned up 23rd street, I noticed a man walking to me that 'zero-ed' in on my presence, locking eyes on me. There was no side street to turn down, and I didn't want to turn around, exposing my back to him, so I kept walking. As we neared each other, I tried to walk around a tree quite close to the curb, before I could do so he lunged at me.

He knew what he was doing and how to attack someone. He went first for my eye socket with his thumb and put his other hand in my mouth to stifle my screams and slammed me down to the ground. He was using the hand in my mouth and on my jaw to try and slam my head on the concrete, presumably to knock me out. Once I was down on the ground he straddled me pinning down my arms. After about 15s of struggling just to avoid him knocking me out, I was able to use all my strength to surge up on my right side to unpin that arm. Since I'm a climber, I'm strong, and I don't think he was expecting this and was unprepared for that maneuver. Luckily through this move and some biting, I was also able to get his hand out of my mouth and started screaming - first just yelling and then screaming for help. I struggled with him while screaming and trying to avoid him knocking me out for another 30s until a couple in a house several houses down the street threw open their window and turned on lights. This scared him away.

The cops came and while we drove around looking for him for awhile, we were unable to find him. This means that someone who clearly knows how to attack swiftly and effectively is still out there in our neighborhoods. This happened at 23rd between Guerrero and San [Jose] - the fringe of the mission and noe.

I'm incredibly lucky that I had the strength to keep him from delivering a knock out blow and to fight for so long until someone came to help. I'm incredibly lucky that those in the houses around me didn't fall prey to crowd think and assume someone else was going to help. I'm walking away from this with a bruised eye, scratches on my face, road rash on my shoulder and sore/bruised back, shoulders, jaw and ribs. It could have been significantly worse.

I wanted to spread this around not to try and get attention or your sympathy, but to hopefully make you aware of the fact that attacks, and 'bad things' can also happen to people in your circle. We live in a big city and the best thing you can do is be incredibly conscious of your surroundings at all time. Please - walk in groups, or with a male friend, take taxis and dial up those street smarts...

Feel free to send this around to other females that could benefit from a dose of reality.

Details are still emerging, and no description has been given of the suspect. We'll update as more info is available. Be safe. And if you hear screaming out your window do something. This woman is lucky.

Update (1/9): Mission Local confirmed with SFPD that this attack happened at approximately 2:40am and posted a description of the suspect:

Authorities described the suspect as an 5’8-tall Asian man who weighs approximately 160 pounds, between the ages of 20 and 30. He has a buzzcut and a slight beard and was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and dark pants. 

 SFPD is investigating this as an attempted rape.

Also: a rally has been organized for this Friday from 4-6pm to promote solidarity among/with women and to  increase awareness and vigilance so these attacks don't continue.

Update (1/14): The SFPD has released a sketch of the suspect.