Tourist hang on for dear life as they attempted to stop violent San Francisco robbers

Publish date: 2024-08-19

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A shocking video showed tourists being thrown off a vehicle while trying to stop brazen thieves from speeding off with their belongings during a violent robbery in a popular San Francisco area.

Dmitry Koval, a victim who posted the video to Instagram, told The Post that he and his friends were hoping to take in the scenery and get something to eat at the Fort Mason Center lot in the Marian District on September 13.

The group was already across the parking lot at about 4 p.m. when they saw a black SUV park pull up next to their two vans.

They watched in horror as two suspects got out of their vehicle and broke into their vehicles.

“We saw them taking bags from our vans and started putting it into the black SUV,” Koval, 30, said. “That’s when my friends started running and other people there were honking their horns. I heard someone yell, ‘Don’t run to them! They might have a gun!’

Shocking video shows San Francisco tourists thrown from a moving vehicle as they tried to stop car robbers in broad daylight at the Fort Mason Center. Dmitry Koval

“But my friends were already trying to stop them so I could not leave them.”

As Koval’s friends tried to surround the vehicle, the driver of the black SUV stepped on the gas.

One of Koval’s friends hung onto the driver-side window and ran alongside it in an attempt to take control of the wheel.

Another friend also grabbed onto the moving vehicle and tried to wrestle the other suspect who was sitting on the passenger’s side.

“We even broke the windshield with crutches in hopes it would stop them,” Koval wrote in his Instagram post. “Still, the burglar was able to turn the wheel and pushed the gas all the way in.”

The robbers got away with about $10,000 worth of cash, computers and other belongings from Koval and his friends. Dmitry Koval

Within a few seconds, the driver accelerated at a high speed, throwing the friend who was holding onto the driver onto the asphalt. He rolled on the ground several times, causing gash burns throughout his body.

The other victim held onto the passenger side of the robbers’ SUV for another 100 feet before he also was violently thrown off the vehicle, Koval told The Post.

The men suffered minor to serious injuries, with one of them staying a few days at a local hospital because he had broken his legs in the melee.

Koval said before the brazen daytime robbery, they had parked at another location to get a better view of the Golden Gate Bridge. They were alarmed, however, when they saw a vehicle had been broken into at that lot as well.

One of the men who tried to stop the robbers suffered deep gashes and skin burns. Dmitry Koval
The men suffered minor to serious injuries during the melee. Dmitry Koval

“We thought we would be safer if we went somewhere else so we went to Fort Mason lot,” Koval said. “I am just still in shock because it all happened so fast. In total, they probably took about $10,000 worth [of items], including laptops and other important things like documents and our passports.”

Car break-ins have been so common in the Bay Area that law enforcement officials and locals have a name for it.

“It’s called ‘bipping and boosting,'” San Francisco Lt. Tracy McCray told The Post, referring to the slang term used for the vehicle smash-and-grab incidents that have become commonplace in San Francisco, Oakland and other parts of Northern California.

A street sign says ”Safety Alert-Smash and Grab Hotspot” near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Day-time vehicle break-ins have become so common in San Francisco neighborhoods such as the Alamo Square and Japantown that Supervisor Dean Preston called for a hearing to address the city’s bipping epidemic, according to the San Francisco Standard.

The City by the Bay has been hit not only with increases in thefts and robberies but is also suffering through another record high of drug overdoses with about 85 deaths last month.

A car with a broken window is seen in Alamo Square of San Francisco, California on August 9, 2023. Car break-ins have been at epidemic levels in the Bay Area. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The increase of certain crimes, fatal overdoses and the exodus of businesses in the once bustling downtown San Francisco tourist corridor also have contributed to the city’s “doom loop.”

Koval, who lives in Massachusetts, said he has visited San Francisco a handful of times before, but he has never experienced a traumatic event like the one that unfolded in front of him last week.

He said the only solace he took from the incident was from the bystanders who saw the robbery and quickly rendered his friends aid and called the cops.

“It has been traumatic and it makes me think that we will just have to avoid San Francisco because it’s just not safe anymore,” he said.

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