Capt. Denis O'Leary: Police Beat

Team Policing

On Aug. 13, a Muni LRV driver and a Muni inspector realized that the man drinking a can of beer on the train at Ninth Avenue and Irving Street was the same person who had vandalized another LRV a month before. Officer Apodaca was summoned to the scene. The train left the area and Apodaca found it at Carl and Cole streets. The vandal fled the train with the two Muni employees in pursuit. Apodaca captured the suspect after a short chase and he was booked at Taraval Station for misdemeanors and warrants.

Keep an Eye on Your Belongings

Officer Jeffrey Chang was summoned to a bar in the 700 block of Irving Street one night where a man was being held by patrons. One woman had sat down to enjoy an evening with friends when she soon realized that her purse was missing. Her friends saw a man sitting directly behind her with her purse wrapped up in his sweatshirt. Chang arrested the man and found another patron's wallet in the suspect's possession, too. The brigand was booked at Taraval Station on three felony counts.

More Team Policing

Officers Berrigan and Dutra were sent to Plymouth and Grafton streets on a call for a strong-arm robbery. The victim and witnesses described how two suspects had overpowered their prey and stolen a purse. A truck was used in the crime and its description was broadcast throughout San Francisco. Officers from Bayview Station soon had the suspects stopped on San Bruno Avenue. Taraval Station officers brought the victim to the detention scene, where property taken in the robbery was recovered.

Even More Team Policing

A man and woman were heard arguing with each other inside their apartment on the 1200 block of 14th Avenue. Suddenly, a shot was heard from within their home. The police department was called and officers Kim, Lau and Miller from the Tactical Squad responded. Outside the building, they found a man bleeding from a bullet wound to his face. While rendering aid to the victim, the officers found the man's assailant, his girlfriend, in the apartment building's lobby. She was promptly arrested and found to have a loaded gun in her pocket. Further investigation revealed narcotics in the suspect's possession. She was booked on many felony charges at Taraval Station.

Back-to-School Thief Busted

Faculty and staff returning to school at San Francisco State University were surprised to see broken glass on the sidewalk near parked cars on 19th Avenue, near Holloway Street. They were even more surprised to see a man crouched under one car's dashboard with tools in hand.

Officers Lopez and Moreno soon arrived on the scene and arrested the burglar as she was stealing a stereo from the car. Another car was found nearby with its side window smashed and its stereo missing, too. The suspect was booked at Taraval Station.

Burglar Nabbed

In early August, a home in the 100 block of Pacheco Street was broken into and jewelry and a white Lexus automobile were taken. A few days later, the thief used the car again as he fled another burglary in the 500 block of Crestlake Drive.

Three days after the second burglary, officers Guardado, Lyons, Scott and Pako, of the Taraval Station's Street Crime Unit, were in the Hunters Point neighborhood looking for a suspect who had earlier assaulted a Taraval officer in the OMI neighborhood. Guardado saw the Lexus drive by and recognized it from earlier reports.

When the plainclothes officers attempted to stop the car, the suspect fled. Uniformed officers from the Tactical Squadron took up pursuit as it ranged throughout the Bayview, Mission and Ingleside districts. The chase ended in the Bernal Heights neighborhood when the suspect was caught.

Property taken in the two burglaries was found in the car. The man was booked at Taraval Station and a follow-up investigation by inspectors John Cleary and Lou Bronfeld of the Burglary Detail led to the service of search warrants in more locations throughout San Francisco.

Masked Gunmen Follow, Rob Woman at Home

Masked gunmen followed an elderly woman to her house on Gellert Drive one Sunday morning last month.

After breaking into the house, they demanded the money in her safe. Realizing that there was no safe in the house, one of them disabled the woman's telephone.

All of the suspects fled after threatening the woman's life.

Inspector Bob Totah of the Robbery Detail soon developed information that brought him to a Hayward address, where he served a search warrant with the help of Hayward police. Totah arrested one suspect and recovered the gun suspected of being used in the robbery.

Capt. Denis O'Leary is the commanding officer at the Taraval Police Station.