Witness Intervenes in Auto Burglary, Then Becomes Crime Victim
Published on November 17, 2021
Palo Alto, CA – A man who witnessed an auto burglary being committed in a downtown Palo Alto parking garage last week intervened and tackled one of the suspects as he fled, only to have a knife brandished at him by a second suspect. Both suspects then escaped, but not before the auto burglary victim’s property was recovered.
On Wednesday, November 10, 2021, at about 7:32 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from the victim reporting that he had just interrupted an auto burglary at the Cowper / Webster Garage at 520 Webster Street. Officers responded immediately, but the suspects had already escaped.
The investigation revealed that the victim, a man in his forties, was driving on the second floor of the garage when he saw two men that he described as “suspicious.” The victim parked on the third floor and then walked back down to the second floor to see what they were doing. He heard a window smash and saw the suspects standing next to a vehicle that had a door window shattered. The suspects noticed him and began to run.
The victim chased both suspects and wound up tackling one of them to the ground. The two proceed to fight for about a minute. During the fight, the victim’s pocketknife fell off his belt and landed on the ground. The second suspect, who had stopped to watch the fight, then picked up the knife, held it up close to the victim’s face, and demanded that the victim let his partner go or else he would stab him. The victim relented, and both suspects then fled on foot in the alleyway toward University Avenue and disappeared.
The victim sustained minor injuries during the fight from being punched but declined medical attention at the scene. The suspects absconded with the knife but dropped a bag they had stolen from the vehicle into which they had broken (a gray 2007 Toyota Tacoma pick-up). Police contacted the auto burglary victim and returned the bag to them. The bag contained about $300 worth of personal property.
The victim described both suspects as Hispanic males between 20 and 30 years of age, wearing black hooded sweatshirts, black pants, and face coverings. The one the victim tackled was about 5 feet 10 inches tall with a heavy build, while the one who brandished the knife was about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thin build.
Officers encourage anyone who may witness a property crime like an auto burglary to immediately call the police, keep the suspects under observation from a safe distance, and provide a full description to help officers apprehend them.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.