iThwart: Muni iPhone Theft Gone Wrong
Photo by Steve Rhodes
Last night, three 38Ls rode by, all of them packed to the gills, so I waited for the regular. When it came, it wasn’t crowded but there weren’t any free seats, so I stood near the accordion fold.
There were a few kids in the back door stairwell. They played with their phones and slurped tapioca drinks.I don’t know why I watched the kids – nothing else to occupy myself with, I guess.
Most of them got out at Scott, then a couple at Divisadero.
The bus stopped at Baker and the doors opened with their usual hydraulic whoosh.
Two kids got out, and then the last kid lunged at a woman sitting across from the door and ripped the iPhone out of her hands.
She pulled away from him and shouted something. And then I was at the door too, yelling, “HEY, HEY, HEY!” as loudly as I could, grabbing for the boy, grabbing for the bright white phone, the headphones, whatever I could get a hold of.
We scrabbled for the phone and got it back. The kid took off down the street, his hood covering his face, no chance to identify him if it ever came to that.
The bus driver didn’t pay any attention. She shut the doors and we were on our way.
The woman sat back down and wound her headphones around her phone before shoving it into her bag.
“Thanks,” she said.
No one else said a thing, and no one moved.
Wow. Watch out for your phones, purses, and other items on the bus, everybody. Not everyone’s lucky enough to ride the bus with Rachel. Got your own Muni story? We wanna hear it.