San Francisco visitors from Kentucky, Tennessee stop attempted break-in after being robbed
The tourists had come back from a hike in SF when they saw their car was broken into
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tourists from Tennessee and Kentucky visiting San Francisco helped thwart a car robbery after they had just become victims of a smash-and-grab in the city.
"When you have been hurt like that, when you've been hurt and victimized like that, you see someone else, it's natural to respond. To me, that seems like the natural human response," one of the tourists, Clifton Roth, told NBC Bay Area.
Roth said he was with a group of friends from Tennessee and Kentucky visiting California’s wine country last week before going on a short hike in San Francisco on Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}San Francisco is experiencing a sharp increase in burglaries, according to police figures.
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The group returned to their rental car after the hike and found it had been broken into. While they waited for a tow truck, they saw another attempted break-in and thwarted the suspects.
One of the tourists shouted at the would-be thieves while another threw a rock at their car. The suspects fled before they broke into the other car, NBC Bay Area reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A police officer was one of six people injured Wednesday during a shootout in San Francisco. (Getty Images)
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Roth explained that the items his group lost included an Army backpack, which had special meaning to one of the tourists who served two tours in Iraq. But the group was able to find the backpack after a local man stopped to help them. He connected the tourists with other community members who found it on the street.
"Even though we experienced some of the darkness in San Francisco right now, we also experienced the light," Roth said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}San Francisco has been grappling with an increase in car break-ins in recent months. The city’s Central District alone saw a 753% increase in car break-ins from May 2020 to May 2021.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, announced an up to $100,000 reward last month for information to help identify, arrest and convict the perpetrators behind the crimes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 17: San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a news conference outside of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with essential workers to mark the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown on March 17, 2021 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco has some of the lowest number of coronavirus cases and death rates in the country with only 422 deaths in a city with a population near 900,000. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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"The criminals are committing these acts in broad daylight in this city," Breed said at a news conference at the time.