San Francisco tech worker disarms attacker during car theft, chases suspect
San Francisco native Jesse Hunt, who works at Zoom, was walking home with a friend in the Marina on Dec. 15, when he jumped into action to help someone being attacked.
The good Samaritan witnessed an elderly victim in a physical confrontation with a would-be car thief, who was armed with a knife, outside Marina Middle School.
"I hear somebody yelling out "I need help, I'm being robbed, been stabbed, this guy's trying to take my car,'" said Hunt. "Kind of looked at my friend Madison and we look over and there's a guy in a scuffle with another guy."
Hunt said he yelled at the suspect to drop the knife, which prompted the attacker to take off on Chestnut Street. So, he chased him.
"As I was running up to him on the fence he jumped off and pulled the knife out at me and then I backed off, and then he started zig-zagging and at that point, I was kind of like, this is my one chance to take the guy down," he said.
Hunt has been taking kickboxing classes for about a year.
His kick into the suspect's back sent him flying, he said. Ultimately, that move disarmed the suspect, who then pulled out a second knife. Meanwhile, Hunt was able to grab the victim's stolen car keys.
After another chase through part of the San Francisco Public Library, more help arrived, including from the victim himself who caught up with the group, an off-duty federal officer, and two other witnesses. Hunt added that the officer was armed but did not discharge his weapon.
Together, they held down the suspect until San Francisco Police arrived at Bay and Webster streets.
"One theme that I would love for people to take away from this is that stuff is going to happen in any city, but we can take it upon ourselves to jump in and take action when you see something going down," he said.
The suspect was identified as 35-year-old Mohamed Jafaripour. He was booked into jail on an active warrant out of San Francisco along with other charges, including burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, vandalism, and unlawful possession of tear gas.
"I think it was just a snap decision that worked out. I do recognize that he could have had a gun. Turns out he had tear gas on him. I got a little lucky, but I think a lot of other people would have done something," Hunt said.
SFPD said the victim and the suspect were taken to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries resulting from the altercation.