One of more than a dozen car windows smashed to gain entry on Filbert Street in San Francisco, Calif.
courtesy Jess Sterrett / courtesy Jess SterrettMore than a dozen cars parked on Filbert Street in San Francisco’s Cow Hollow neighborhood were broken into early Monday morning, according to a resident who witnessed the aftermath of smashed glass.
The incident occurred on the eve of a previously scheduled neighborhood public-safety town hall meeting to address rising crime in the neighborhood.
The break-ins were discovered by residents of two residential blocks of Filbert Street between Pierce and Fillmore. In all cases, the passenger-side window was broken to gain entry. Either the glove box or center console was left open.
The incident was posted to Nextdoor by Jess Sterrett , who lives on that strip of Filbert whose car window was cracked but not fully broken. Sterrett leaves the glove box of her Audi open with a sign inside reading “Nothing in this car to take” in big letters. Her car had previously been broken into a block away.
“I walked up the block, and every 10 feet there was shattered glass on the ground,” said Sterrett, who was out at 6:15 a.m. Monday, en route to her morning coffee. She counted 17 cars with broken windows, but there were probably more because there were break-ins reported to police around the corner of Webster Street that same night.
According to Sterrett, a neighbor spotted the Filbert Street crime in progress sometime after midnight and called police.
By Monday morning there were police report tickets left on the dashboards of all cars that had been broken into. San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Niccole Pacchetti confirmed that officers responded to a 911 call of vehicles being broken into on the 3000 block of Webster Street earlier in the evening of Sunday, Jan. 15. The Filbert Street break-ins probably happened during that same spree and were part of the same police report, Pacchetti said.
“Residents are understandably furious,” said District Two Supervisor Catherine Stefani, noting that her office tallied a total of 23 break-ins in her district over the weekend. These included an incident in the Marina where a resident walking along Chestnut Street Monday morning counted four broken car windows across from Moscone Recreation Center.
“An ambulance was hijacked and individuals suspected of stealing catalytic converters allegedly shot at officers responding to the scene,” Stefani said, citing other crimes in the city over the holiday weekend.
Stefani called for the town hall meeting, which was expected to be attended by Police Chief Bill Scott and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Tuesday evening.
Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF
