Man Suspected Of Pickpocketing Woman Riding Muni In Wheelchair, May Be Targeting Other Passengers
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – Surveillance video on a San Francisco Muni bus shows a pickpocket preying on a woman in a wheelchair. Police believe the man is behind a string of similar crimes targeting the elderly.
The woman who was robbed last weekend on a crowded Muni bus said this guy was calculated with his moves, and knew exactly what he was doing.
Video shows a crowded 5-Fulton bus coming to a stop Saturday afternoon, when Karen Sellers cries out that she has just been robbed. The suspect was already off the bus.
"Cowardly, he needs to be off the street," Sellers told KPIX 5.
Sellers said she was on her way home, sitting in the wheelchair section of the bus, when the man got on and stood right next to her. The victim said the man made his move when the bus came to a stop and opened its doors at Van Ness and McAllister.
"He fell directly on top of me, pinning me to the chair, and reached in," Sellers recalled. "Took the wallet out and I literally had to push him off me."
San Francisco police said this guy moves like a seasoned pickpocket, and they fear there are more victims out there.
"We suspect that, not only is he targeting elderly women, but he's doing this all over the downtown corridor," said Officer Carlos Manfredi of the San Francisco Police Department.
"I want to get this man off the street. I want him to pay for what he did," Sellers said.
Police said he may also be targeting riders on the 38-Geary line.
