SFist Blotter

Know why all of a sudden Matier and Ross are interested in auto theft all of a sudden? Because someone broke into Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's car, that's why! Ross wandered out in his beloved District 5 to find that someone had made off with the steering column of his 1970 VW. Of course Mirkadreamy drives a 1970 VW. Ross called the cops, who seemed kind of indifferent about it, and now the Conquistador's upset. You know, it's this kind of thing that makes a man want to fight crime.

Hapless Norte gang members in Fremont learned, as the Oakland Trib put it, "a costly lesson in thug life on Saturday," when it turned out the person who owned the car that they were vandalizing was taping them. Three people in a Toyota were waiting in line at a Jack in the Box drive-through when a silver VW bug cut in front of them, and three men jumped out and started kicking the Toyota, while shouting "Norte!", "Remember where you are," and profanities. Someone inside the Toyota caught the whole thing on his cell phone, including the choice tidbit that after a while of this, the VW driver sped off, forcing the three car attackers to leave by foot.

....and a 4-year-old girl shot in Hayward while playing in her Barbie VW bug is off a respirator and out of intensive care, but still in the hospital. Governor Schwarzenegger has offered a $50,000 reward for information about the shooting, which is suspected to be gang-related.

At left: The fifth picture we found on Google Images when we searched under the term "1970 VW."