A good Samaritan, who tried to stop a shoplifter at a Colma Target in a viral video, provided important information to police which led to the suspect's arrest last month — but authorities are cautioning the public against intervening in those situations.
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The incident occurred on March 17 at the Target located at 5001 Junipero Serra Blvd and was filmed by a bystander inside the store. The video, which has over 500,000 views on Twitter and circulated throughout social media over the last week, shows the hooded suspect in a black sweatshirt dragging a bin full of unpaid jeans towards the exit doors when a citizen attempts to stop him by knocking the bin out of his hands and causing all the jeans to fall out. Eventually, the citizen stops intervening and can be heard yelling while the suspect picks up the clothes, and walks out of the store without paying. The stolen goods were worth just under $2,000, according to police.
The unidentified citizen, who was not an employee, called the police and was able to provide them with on-point witness information, which helped lead to an arrest. The suspect, 28-year-old Samuel Balcorta of San Francisco, was booked for second degree burglary, grand theft and committing a felony while on bail.
The man who tried to stop the suspect told police he was tired of seeing thefts taking place.
"He said 'I'm just sick and tired of all these thefts that are occurring and I back law enforcement and this is something I just felt I needed to do,'" Colma Police Captain Sherwin Lum told KCBS Radio.
While Lum praised the concerned citizen's efforts, he encouraged people not to get physically involved when they see retail crimes because it can be unclear how dangerous the suspect is.
"Many times these suspects are carrying weapons. Many times these suspects are part of an organized theft gang and they get violent," he said.
Rather than intervening, Lum advised people to keep their distance and be a good witness, such as noting a suspect's vehicle color or license plate number. He added that the citizen at Target greatly helped the police's investigation.
"It was just a good job overall by the witness who was able to provide us all the information," Lum said.
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