It’s bad enough to have your car stolen, but one man had the terrifying experience of his car being stolen with his daughter still inside Friday night in Ingleside, and he’s now talking to the press.
We reported over the weekend on the harrowing story of a car that was stolen with a child still inside in SF’s Ingleside neighborhood, and the vehicle theft occurred just before 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. Thankfully, the car was located four blocks away with the child still inside safe and sound, within about ten minutes of it being reported stolen.
But NBC Bay Area spoke to the father in a follow-up report this weekend. He declined to give his name, but he did speak on camera about his experience that nearly turned into a worst nightmare.
“Someone kidnapped your child, your brain and your mind goes crazy,” he told NBC Bay Area. “That’s what happened. I was going nuts. I’m so relieved. Thank god.”
“I pulled at the Good Guys market, not too far from here," he said, recalling the experience. "My daughter was sleeping. So, I just jumped out and I ran into the market to get something and before I could even purchase something, someone got in my car and took off in my truck with my daughter in it and it was like a kidnapping.”
He’s actually referring to Cool Guys Market which is on Holloway Avenue at Ashton Avenue. But in great work by SFPD, the car was then located just 11 minutes later at Capitol and Ocean avenues, outside a convenience store called Homerun Liquors.
“I’ve seen a guy drive kind of crazy. Like a wild left turn and he parked the car and started running,” Homerun Liquors owner Jamil Tawasha told NBC Bay Area. “I walked up, I’ve seen the car. I've seen a baby crying in there and two minutes after I seen that, a whole bunch of officers and a helicopter came.”
The child and the vehicle have been safely recovered, but the suspect is still at large. 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.
Image: Google Street View
