Noe Valley Voice November 2007
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Crime Beat: Incidents in Noe North

By Office Jane Warner
San Francisco Patrol Special Police

The following crime summaries were culled from reports filed at Mission Police Station. They cover incidents occurring from Sept. 17 through Oct. 15, 2007, in Noe Valley north of Cesar Chavez Street. Listed at right are a number of other incidents that happened nearby in the Castro and Mission districts. The Voice hopes to include the southern half of Noe Valley, covered by Ingleside Police Station, in future editions.

Theft: 700 block of Clipper, 9-25-07, 11:09 p.m.

A man invited another man over to eat dinner and watch a movie. When the delivery man arrived with the pizza, the man got his wallet out of the bedroom and left it on a table and went to pay for the pizza at the door. When he came back into the living room with the pizza, his new acquaintance suddenly told him he had to go and hurriedly left the apartment. Thinking this was a bit odd, the man checked his wallet and noticed that his money, over a hundred dollars, was missing from inside. The man tried to call the suspect -- described as a white male, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 150 pounds, with brown hair -- but there was no answer.

Vandalism: 200 block of Clipper, 9-29-07, 3:58 p.m.

Police responded to a call of kids breaking windows. When they arrived on the scene, they found two young juveniles standing next to a garage. The garage window had been broken, and shards of glass lay about the driveway. "It was an accident," one of the young teens told the officers. "We were just pitch-hitting some rocks, and one of them broke the window." Officers confiscated the yellow baseball bat the kids were playing with and tried to contact the owners of the residence, but no one was home. The officers called the teens' parents, and after a short while, the parents arrived at the location. The teens were admonished and released to their parents. A note regarding the incident with the parents' information was left on the garage door.

Breaking Windows: 300 block of Jersey, 9-29-07, 11:47 p.m.

A resident was watching TV in his living room when he heard a cracking noise coming from another room in his house. Getting up to investigate, the man found two small holes in his front window. After calling the police, the man checked his neighbor's house to see if it had been hit as well, but there was no damage. The resident told responding officers that he thought the person responsible for the damage might have been his daughter's boyfriend, and explained that earlier in the day he and his wife had told the boyfriend to stop seeing their daughter. Officers were unable to determine what had caused the windows to break, but suspected it might have been a BB gun.

Lost Property: 24th and Sanchez, 10-13-07, 9 a.m.

A volunteer worker at the Noe Valley Harvest Festival set her bag down on the sidewalk to move some equipment. When she returned a few minutes later, the bag was gone. Inside the missing backpack were the woman's credit cards, several IDs including a California driver's license, and a set of Budget Rental truck keys. There were no known suspects.

Officer Jane Warner walks regular beats in Noe Valley and the Castro District. You can reach her by sending an e-mail to sfpatrol@earthlink.net or calling 559-9955.

Crime in the Castro

Robbery with a Gun: Eureka at 19th, 9-27-07, 7:50 p.m.

While walking home from work, a man observed an older silver Oldsmobile slowly pull up alongside him. The car suddenly stopped in the middle of the street, and a man jumped out of the passenger side pointing a .38-caliber revolver. "Give me everything!" the robber demanded as he pointed the handgun. Startled, the victim dropped the bag of groceries he was carrying and gave the armed robber his wallet, containing about $80. The thief took the bifold and also grabbed the victim's briefcase, which was in his other hand. The robber started to walk back to the car with the stolen goods, then turned and told the victim, "Pick those up," pointing to the groceries strewn on the sidewalk. The suspect, described as African-American, 20 to 25 years old, 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, wearing a colored do-rag, black sweatshirt, and blue jeans, got back into the two-door coupe, driven by another man, and sped away eastbound on 19th Street.

Robbery with a Gun: Caselli at Douglass, 9-27-07, 9:34 p.m.

A woman was walking eastbound on Caselli Avenue approaching Douglass Street when she saw three other women walking toward her. As they passed one another, one of the women in the group suddenly pushed the woman up against a parked car and attempted to take her shoulder bag. "Give us everything you have," the women told her. As the woman struggled to retain her shoulder bag, a second suspect pulled out a silver handgun and pointed it at the woman's face. "Give us everything." she repeated. Fearing for her life, the woman handed over her shoulder bag as the third suspect rifled through her pockets, taking her wallet, which held about $100, and her checkbook. The suspects, described as African-American and in their early 20s, all ran westbound on Caselli, where they were seen getting into a double-parked white four-door sedan driven by another woman. The vehicle was last seen headed northbound toward Market Street. Taken during the robbery was the victim's shoulder bag valued at $150 decorated with a seatbelt buckle with a red stripe, a $400 Samsung cell phone, a black Holux GPS unit, a black leather wallet containing miscellaneous identification, a pair of sunglasses, and a British passport. Suspect number one was described as heavyset, with braided hair, and wearing baggy clothing and a backwards baseball cap. Suspect number two had short dreadlocks, was dark-complected, and dressed in baggy jeans and a white T-shirt. There was no further description of the other two women.

Drink Tampering: 2100 block of Market at Sanchez, 10-12-07, 1 a.m.

A woman met a man inside a bar and had a few drinks with him. The woman took a couple of sips from the man's beer and after a while began to feel dizzy and her heart raced. Feeling sick, the woman left and went home. In the morning she was convinced that her drink had been spiked, and called police to report it. The suspect is described as a white male, 36 to 37 years old, 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, with red hair and blue eyes.

Aggravated Assault with a Gun: 3400 block of 19th near Valencia, 10-13-07, 1:46 a.m.

Several people were standing outside a bar on 19th Street during closing when they heard a vehicle coming down the street at a high rate of speed. Suddenly the maroon sedan stopped in front of the club, and a man got out of the passenger side of the vehicle holding a handgun. The gunman pointed the revolver at the crowd and indiscriminately started to fire. The crowd of people scattered and ran for cover as the gunman fired off five to six shots. One of the rounds hit the doorman in the left thigh, as several other rounds lodged in the metal frames of parked cars. The suspect, described as a mixed-race male in his 20s who wore a black hooded sweatshirt, skull cap, and blue jeans, got back into the car driven by another male and sped away southbound on Lexington Street. Officers responded quickly to the scene and searched the area for the suspects' vehicle, but could not find it. The doorman, who told officers he did not recognize the suspects, was taken to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound to his leg and released. There were no other reported injuries.

--Patrol Special Police Officer Jane Warner

The San Francisco Police Department Divides Us in Half

Noe Valley falls under the jurisdiction of two San Francisco police districts: Mission and Ingleside. Mission Police cover the northern half of the neighborhood, including 24th Street, and Ingleside Police the southern half, starting at Cesar Chavez Street.

Both districts hold monthly meetings that are open to the public. Mission Police District's community meetings are held on the last Tuesday of the month, 6 p.m., at Mission Station, 630 Valencia Street near 17th Street. Ingleside's community meetings take place on the third Tuesday of the month, 7 p.m., at Ingleside Police Station off Balboa Park at San Jose Avenue. To speak to an officer at Mission Station, call 558-5400 or e-mail SFPDMissionStation@ci.sf.ca.us. The station's tip line for anonymous reporting of drug or gang activity is 392-2623. To contact Ingleside Police, call 404-4000 or e-mail SFPDInglesideStation@ci.sf.ca.us. The Ingleside anonymous tip line is 575-4444. For citywide online reporting, go to www.sfgov.org/site/police.

To report a crime in progress, call 911. For non-emergencies, call 553-0123.