A viral video has racked up nearly a million views claiming “Police Sit Back & Watch” in an Alamo Square car break-in case, but the video edits out the part where police gave chase, and the stolen items were all recovered.

A video posted to Twitter and TikTok Thursday has acquired nearly a million views, and seemed to dovetail perfectly into the “Police did nothing” narrative. The video is posted by some anonymous account called Bay Area State of Mind, which seems to mostly post other people’s videos, but watermarks them as their own.


“Police Sit Back & Watch Thieves Break Into Tourist’s Cars & Steal All Their Belongings in San Francisco, CA,” the description declares. The post shows a 31-second video of  a white Lexus pulling up to a black SUV next to Alamo Square Park, where someone exits the Lexus, smashes the SUV’s back window, steals some items, and drives off. The Lexus drives past an SFPD SUV, which appears to sit motionless.


But the SFPD vehicle did not sit motionless. The Chronicle has obtained the full video, which is 15 seconds longer, and shows the police SUV backing up on Steiner Street and giving chase after the suspect’s Lexus sped off.

The Chronicle’s full report on the matter notes the incident happened Monday night at around 6:40 p.m. That report also notes that the suspect dropped the stolen items when the cops appeared, which were all recovered.

It’s unclear whether this situation is fully resolved, or whether an arrest has been made — police said that they lost track of the vehicle in the chase. The Chronicle notes that the person who took the original video said they “did see two patrol cars about 30 minutes later talking to the driver of the [Lexus]," but it's unclear if that was the same car.

Yet while the viral video spread a false narrative, it ironically did some unintended good. In an interesting twist, a Daly City man recognized the suspect Lexus as his own stolen car, which had been stolen on August 17. The Chron notes that “The man said he recognized his stolen car based on custom carbon fiber parts he installed and the particular sound of the exhaust, which was also custom.” He’s forwarded the video to the Daly City police.

If you have any information on this incident, you’re asked to call the SFPD tip line at 415-575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with “SFPD.” Tipsters can remain anonymous.

Related: Sorry Guys, That E-40 Video With the Nuns Dancing Is a Fake [SFist]

Image: via @YayAreaNews