Woman Has Cell Phone Stolen Out of Her Hand

<p>Palo Alto police are investigating an incident from Monday morning where two suspects stole a cell phone from a victim’s hand as they ran past her on a sidewalk&comma; then jumped into a getaway car and fled&period;  The victim was not physically injured&period;  The suspects are unknown and at large&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Monday&comma; March 14&comma; 2022&comma; at about 9&colon;41 a&period;m&period;&comma; the Palo Alto 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a woman in her forties who reported that her cell phone had just been stolen by two suspects who ran past her in the 2000 block of Webster Street&period;  The victim said the suspects had gotten in a car parked nearby&comma; and that the vehicle had left the area&period;  Police responded immediately but did not locate the suspects or their vehicle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The investigation revealed that the victim had been walking on the sidewalk&comma; talking on her cell phone&period;  She noticed two males were walking behind her for about two minutes&comma; before she heard running footsteps&period;  As the suspects ran past her&comma; one of the grabbed the cell phone out of her hand&period;  They ran across the street to a white four-door sedan that had been parked around the corner and got into the passenger side of the car&period;  The victim last saw the vehicle driving westbound on Santa Rita Avenue&period;  The victim ran back to her nearby home and called the police&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The victim described the suspects as males in their teens&comma; both about 5 feet 9 inches tall&period;  One wore a red hooded sweatshirt with white lettering on it&comma; and the other wore a black hooded sweatshirt&period;  Both suspects wore face coverings&period;  The victim did not see the driver of the getaway vehicle&comma; nor could she describe the vehicle further&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Police are actively investigating this incident&comma; including if there is any connection to an armed robbery that occurred at 1&colon;00 a&period;m&period; on March 15 on University Avenue&period;  To learn more about that incident&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;cityofpaloalto&period;org&sol;News-Articles&sol;Police-Department&sol;Police-Investigate-Early-Morning-Armed-Robbery-of-Pedestrian">read the news release about it here<&sol;a>&period;  At this time&comma; detectives have no evidence directly connecting the two cases and believe it is possible they are not related to one another&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;