SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A San Francisco woman tells the blog Haighteration that she was waiting for the bus near Divisadero and Haight St. when a man demanding her phone attacked her and shot her in the face multiple times with a stun gun.
“He tased me twice on the side of my face and then on my chest yelling ‘give me your phone.’ The phone dropped and then he started grabbing my purse but I wouldn’t let go. I was screaming and people came out from the neighboring restaurants, shops and he ran down the street,” the unidentified victim told Haighteration. She said said the mugger then fled.
A witness was able to get the license plate for the getaway vehicle, which was registered in Los Angeles. Police confirmed that they had taken a report on a tasing, but released no further information on the incident.
Smartphone thefts have become increasingly common on Bay Area buses. Data compiled by CBS 5 also revealed most of the 400 reported smartphone and iPod robberies in San Francisco in the last six months of 2011 involved violence.
A 2011 CBS 5 investigation revealed the thefts are fueled by a thriving black market for stolen phones on the street.
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