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Bold smash-and-grab in Golden Gate Park with unusual outcome
KTVU's Cristina Rendon reports.
SAN FRANCISCO - A robber's smash-and-grab attempt at Golden Gate Park didn't go as planned after the victim managed to wrestle his belongings back in an incident that was captured on cellphone video.
The victim, Jason Andaya, had been in the park for only 10 minutes with his wife Natalie and 2-year-old son Jasper when their rental car was targeted. The family was on a California road trip and had spent two days in San Francisco. The park was their last stop before heading home to Seattle.
"I’m just wondering like what's this guy doing on that side of our vehicle… he's got no business there," Andaya said.
Forrest Lanning witnessed the incident around 1:08 p.m. in the area of Martin Luther King Drive and Kezar Drive and shared video of the brazen crime on Twitter.
"I guess they know it's not much of a risk or they can easily get away with it," Lanning said of the robbers. "I don't think they expect most people to go after them. These things need to be reported. It's a serious problem around here."
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Failed robbery attempt at Golden Gate Park
Forrest Lanning captured cellphone video of a brazen robbery attempt at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
Video shows the alleged perpetrator grabbing what appears to be luggage from a parked car and a backpack before running toward an awaiting getaway car. As the man hurries to the car with Andaya on his tail, he drops the luggage.
Andaya chases the man to the getaway car and tussles with him until he lets the backpack go. Andaya said the suitcase was full of his son’s clothes. The backpack had diapers and toys.
The San Francisco Police Department said it has no record of the incident, suggesting that no one reported the attempted theft to law enforcement. A spokesman for SFPD said most of Golden Gate Park is in the Richmond district where robberies are up, but auto burglaries are down.
The department said in a statement, "At this time, we've not located a police report matching the incident depicted in the Twitter post. It is possible that the victim did not file a report."
The Andaya family said they plan on filing a police report online once they return home.
"I’m just happy that nothing bad actually happened to us," Andaya said. "We got all of our belongings."
A KTVU search on the license plate of the suspect’s vehicle came back registered to a rental car company.
The victim chases the man to the getaway car and tussles with him until he lets the backpack go.
Lanning said the victim is from Seattle and was visiting San Francisco on a road trip.
The San Francisco Police Department said it has no record of the incident, suggesting that no one reported the attempted theft to law enforcement.
The department said in a statement, "At this time, we've not located a police report matching the incident depicted in the Twitter post. It is possible that the victim did not file a report."