Mpls. City Councilman Finds His Stolen iPhone, Teaches Thief Lesson
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When Don Samuels saw a young man urinating on a building on near Broadway and Irving, he felt compelled to say something.
"This is right on the corner of the street," said Don Samuels. "Cars moving back and forth, people moving back and forth and getting impressions."
The Minneapolis City Councilman recalled the story with WCCO's Chad Hartman Tuesday.
WCCO's Chad Hartman Interviews Samuels
Podcast
Samuels confronted the two young men, who then in-turn walked up to his car to challenge him. But Samuels stood his ground, only to have his iPhone stolen right from the front seat of his car.
"I felt like I had been had," Samuels said. "I felt like a suburbanite who had stopped on Broadway."
But after consulting with Minneapolis Police, Samuels did his own detective work, thanks to Apple technology. He utilized the "Find My iPhone" app on his wife's phone to pinpoint the North Minneapolis home where the phone and thief were.
Samuels decided not to press charges, but rather meet with the young suspect with police near the scene of the crime.
"He seemed to have been a fairly balanced kid who just had some values issues," Samuels said.
The councilman said he wanted to tell the young man that how he was acting was wrong, and that the young man would continue to act that way unless he took some responsibility for himself.
