The San Francisco Police Department announced Wednesday that it had arrested two suspects for carjacking related to a dramatic car crash over the weekend, in which a white sedan sped off the Sanchez Street staircase, flipped in mid-air and slammed into the sidewalk below after ripping out a tree.
The police arrested Kevin Nelson, 36, and Jennifer Bonham, 31, on suspicion of carjacking and related crimes. The two were apprehended on Tuesday, July 25, at 5:54 p.m., the police said, when officers located the pair on Pine Street, in Nob Hill, between Larkin and Polk streets.
They were both taken into custody without violence, the police said.
Bonham was booked into San Francisco jail on Tuesday, according to booking logs, and remains in custody. Nelson was taken to the hospital for injuries related to the car crash over the weekend, according to the police, and remains there.
The pair were two of five people captured in dramatic home surveillance footage showing them exiting an allegedly stolen white Lincoln sedan after they drove it through a barricade and off of the a two-story staircase on Sanchez Street, crashing onto the sidewalk below and felling a tree.
Passersby were filmed rushing to the crashed car and prying open its door to check on the occupants, who then escaped. Security footage shows first two occupants out of the allegedly stolen vehicle dashing up the stairs, saying “I’m sorry, we gotta go,” and fleeing the scene. The other three walk away from the scene minutes later, as a fire engine approaches the crash.
It is unclear where Nelson and Bonham appear in the video.
Mission High School
18th St
The thieves crashed into a
barrier and flew down the
Sanchez St. steps, flipping
the car and then fleeing on foot.
Hancock St
Church St
4
19th St
Dolores Park
Cumberland St
A group of thieves allegedly
hit a man with a skateboard
and stole his white Lincoln.
1
They rapidly drove west and
then north up Sanchez St.
3
Sanchez St
2
They started east down 20th
St. but turned west when blocked
by cars and pedestrians.
Liberty St
20th St
They rapidly drove
west and then north
up Sanchez St.
3
Sanchez St
4
The thieves crashed
into a barrier and flew
down the Sanchez St.
steps, flipping the car
and then fleeing on foot.
Cumberland St
20th St
19th St
1
Church St
2
A group of thieves
allegedly hit a man
with a skateboard
and stole his
white Lincoln.
They started east
down 20th St. but
turned west when
blocked by cars
and pedestrians.
Dolores Park
Map by Will Jarrett. Basemap from Mapbox.
An eyewitness who had a view of the precipitating carjacking on Church Street near 20th Street described a chaotic scene: The car’s owner was struck by a skateboard during the theft, rolled down a nearby embankment, and yelled at the group stealing his car. He tried to chase them, managing to get his hands on a back door, but they “slammed on the gas,” she said, and motored off.
The allegedly stolen Lincoln then got stuck in a throng of cars and pedestrians near Dolores Park before turning around and speeding off.
Just seconds later, the group crashed through the Sanchez barricade and plummeted two stories, winding up wheels-up a block away.
It probably did not help Kevin that the red head kept saying, “I love you, Kevin.” Now let’s get the other three.
SFPD will probably release them and provide them a loaner vehicle.
Not sure the reason why you keep referring to this as an “allegedly” stolen car? You have an eyewitness account of the carjacking.
I agree it seems a no-brainer…..but there’s that “innocent until proven guilty” concept at work….
It is alleged by a witness. This is how it works in a fair justice system. The courts prove whether it really happened that way. In this case it seems obvious but we have a procedure for a good reason.