Of course, confronting an alleged criminal on your own is a terrible idea. But when you see your stolen stuff in the hands of others, and the cops won't help, what are you supposed to do? Fortunately, one North Beach mom didn't have to make that decision, as two bartenders came to her aid.
According to the Chron, 40-year-old Kate McPhail kept her 2-year-old son's $500 Bob stroller (you've seen these things before, usually with a puffing jogger behind the wheel) locked to her North Beach home's front stoop. That is, until a "recent morning" when it disappeared — the blanket and snacks it contained cruelly dumped on the sidewalk.
That afternoon, McPhail says, she saw a man she characterizes as homeless using her stroller to tote his possessions through Washington Square. Though she was carrying her son, she says she followed the man, calling 911 as she walked.
However, McPhail was on her own in her pursuit, as, reports the Chron, "the (911) operator said they were too busy to deal with the problem but that they’d call back later."
It was only when McPhail passed Columbus Cafe that someone came to her aid, as she explained her plight to two bartenders that were apparently hanging around in the area.
"Literally, before I could even finish my sentence, they grabbed him right there in the street, grabbed all his stuff out of the stroller and threw it in the street" saying "You scumbag! You stole a mom’s stroller?" McPhail says.
Hours later, McPhail says that the cops finally called her back, but by then she was happily reunited with her baby carriage, and was able to decline their assistance.
