I gave you your wallet, he yelled. What more do you want?

Mean Streets, It’s Personal,   tales of crime from neighbors who experience them.  Send your tales to info@missionlocal.com

My neighbor Stephanie returned from lunch Monday at We Be Sushi with this crime tale: Some guy with a big black trash bag quickly entered and left the restaurant on Valencia near 22nd Sreet. Then the woman at the next table asked her “Mam, is that your purse? Be careful. There was a guy that just came in and out. He looked suspicious.”

Her purse was hanging on the chair next to her seat and she looked inside to discover her wallet gone.

She and the other customer went out to chase after the guy. Magically, she said,  a bicycle patrol officer by the first name of Luciana was right there.  She chased the suspect down – he was about two blocks away- and sure enough he was holding Stephanie’s wallet. He returned it but had taken all the cash.

Stephanie says,

 I yelled “he took my cash.” The thief tried to walk away across the street but I followed him, yelling “Give me my cash back.”

“I gave you your wallet,” he yelled “What more do you want?”

She  kept yelling. Fortunately,  another officer on his way to grab a sandwich and the officer, Luke,  turned around and stopped the guy with her cash, she said.  The officer quickly twisted the suspect’s arms behind his back. He still denied having her cash. Eventually, the cop handcuffed the suspect. More officers showed up (Stephanie felt very safe at that point).

Long story short, she got her money back. Kudos to the police.

She wanted to alert other patrons in Valencia street about the incident because later on the woman who runs We Be Sushi told Stephanie that she had heard about similar incidents in restaurants on Valencia.