Hundreds of Illegal Fireworks Seized

<p>San Francisco police officers on Thursday seized hundreds of illegal fireworks&comma; including various rockets and barrel bombs&comma; inside a stolen U-Haul van that was driving through the city&comma; Interim Chief Paul Yep announced on Friday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officers identified and began tracking the van around 6 p&period;m&period; with assistance from the Real-Time Investigation Center&comma; allowing officers to safely stop the vehicle in the Bayview District and apprehend the driver&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The enforcement took hundreds of dangerous fireworks off the street ahead of the Fourth of July holiday&comma; when San Francisco public safety officials increased resources to respond to numerous illegal fireworks cases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The van’s driver&comma; 38-year-old Joe Jenkins of San Francisco was transported to San Francisco County Jail and booked on the charges of driving or taking a vehicle without consent &lpar;10851&lpar;a&rpar; CVC&rpar;&comma; receiving a stolen vehicle &lpar;496d&lpar;a&rpar; PC&rpar;&comma; possession of a large number of fireworks &lpar;12700&lpar;b&rpar;&lpar;3&rpar; PC&rpar;&comma; illegal possession of explosives &lpar;12305 HS&rpar;&comma; and 26 counts of illegal possession of explosives &lpar;12305 HS&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I want to thank our officers for taking these extremely dangerous explosives off our streets&comma;”<&sol;em> <strong>Yep said&period;<&sol;strong> <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;This large cache of fireworks could have caused untold destruction in our city&period; Every year&comma; fireworks lead to serious injuries&comma; fires&comma; and other critical incidents that our officers routinely respond to&period;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>All fireworks are illegal in San Francisco&comma; but Thursday’s enforcement led to the recovery of some especially dangerous examples&comma; including &&num;8220&semi;ground to sky&&num;8221&semi; fireworks and barrel bombs&comma; which can cause serious bodily injuries and death to members of the public&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The San Francisco Police Department is increasing staffing and resources ahead of the Fourth of July to continue to seize illegal fireworks and to protect the public&period; Members of the public are encouraged to celebrate responsibly and enjoy San Francisco’s fireworks show along the waterfront&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;