Ann Yuey witnesses retail theft of 10 iPhones next to her at Union Square Apple Store

（SAN FRANCISCO) Not only the California Governor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Chinatown activist Ann Yuey also witnessed a retail theft incident lately at the Union Square Apple Store. A total of around 10 iPhones were grabbed and stolen by a suspect from a display table where Yuey was standing next to the suspect.

"Retail theft is not only a property crime, but also a very serious violent crime. I don't think the crime has been dropped and the public safety situation is getting better in the City with myself as an eyewitness and a victim at the Union Square Apple Store," said 85-year-old Yuey.

The incident occurred at about 6:45 pm on February 1, Thursday. Yuey bought a new iPhone earlier on. She was offered a short class by Apple Store to help her understand the features of her new phone.

Yuey walked in the Union Square Apple Store at about 6:30 pm on February 1. She talked to a store employee at a display table where iPhones were put and linked with wires.

Yuey said she also put her purse on the table while speaking to the employee about her new iPhone.

An African American man with a hoodie covering his head stood by the same table and very close to Yuey.

"I didn't pay attention to the man while I was focusing on listening to the employee who showed me how my new cellphone worked," Yuey described what she witnessed. "All of a sudden, I heard the noise and turned around to see the man with the hoodie on in a very fast action pulling all the iPhones from the wires one by one and holding all iPhones together at his chest and fled."

"During the suspect pulling all the iPhones from the wires, my arm was hurt with bruises too because the suspect pulled the wires with force that touched my arm," Yuey said she was so frightened to witness the crime in progress and cried there.

"There were people and employees inside the store. But no one chased the suspect or stopped him," Yuey said she was so shocked to first hand understand the seriousness of the retail theft where the Union Square business community has to face on a daily basis and more and more shops have chosen to move out.

Yuey said as a senior and not an expert on public security, she didn't have any clues to solve this problem. "These kind of property crimes only appear in recent years. It would profoundly hurt San Francisco and ordinary citizens like me and need to be dealt with solutions," said Yuey.

The day before Yuey was in the Union Square Apple Store, January 31, Wednesday, Governor Newsom publicly spoke about his own experience witnessing a retail theft incident at one of the Target stores.

During a press conference on zoom on January 31 about a mental health proposition with mayors of California big cities, Newsom revealed that he was recently at a Target store about to check out when he saw a man walk out of the store without paying.

"He picks it up and keeps walking out as we're checking out," Newsom said of the shoplifter whom he witnessed.

Then Newsom said he spoke to the Target worker, “I said, ‘Well why didn’t you stop him?’ She goes, ‘Oh the governor,'' Newsom recalled.

“The governor lowered the threshold, there’s no accountability,” Newsom described the response from the worker. “That’s just not true. I said, ‘We have the 10th toughest — $950 — it’s the 10th toughest in America.’ She doesn’t even know what I’m talking about,” Newsom referred to California’s $950 threshold for grand theft established by Proposition 47 which was passed by California voters in November 2014.

Yuey knew Newsom for decades when he was the Mayor of San Francisco. She still keeps a San Francisco Chronicle newspaper clipping in which a photo captured the moment of Newsom in 2005 eating noodles at Little Paris restaurant in Chinatown and Yuey was with Newsom.

While Newsom and Yuey had witnessed different retail theft incidents almost at the same time at different locations, Yuey said it has been a major challenge for the business community in San Francisco and California.

"There is no consequence. The retail theft will continuously hurt the businesses and get worse," Yuey said she was blessed that she was safe and her injury was minor.