POV Video Shows San Francisco Coffee Shop Owner Chasing Down Car Thief

A coffee shop owner became a crime fighter after he chased a suspected car thief through the streets of San Francisco. KTVU reports that he caught it all on his Tesla's camera.

"I just wanted to get her car back right away," Rich Lee, owner of SPRO Coffee Lab in the Mission Bay neighborhood, told the local news station.

"A girl had run over there, closed the trunk and jumped into her car and just took off," he said. And soon after Lee found himself chasing down the woman who had stolen his co-worker's Honda CR-V.

The incident happened early Monday morning (February 21).

According to KTVU, Angelica Rabino was dropping off pastries at Lee's coffee shop when a woman drove off in her car.

"In my mind, I was thinking like, 'That can't be my car, this can't be happening right now,' " Rabino told KTVU. She frantically told Lee what happened and he jumped into his Tesla Model Y.

Lee caught up to the woman near 7th and Brannan in the South of Market. When she realized he was following her and that's when things got even more chaotic.

"She started driving erratically," Lee said. "She ended up doing a lot of U-turns, and I had to take the same U-turns and obviously that made her drive even faster."

Lee had already called 911 and they warned him it might not be safe to follow but he continued. "Honestly, I was too deep in the game. I was already chasing her for maybe seven to eight minutes at that time," he said.

Along the Embarcadero, the woman reportedly stopped the vehicle and nonchalantly got out and walked away. Soon after, police arrested 26-year-old Vona Marie George on suspicion of auto theft, possession of stolen property, and an outstanding warrant for another auto theft.

"If it makes me a hero, it's a little sad because I feel like everyone should be doing that, right?" Lee humbly said after saving his co-worker's car. "Everyone should be trying to stop this."