Police have apprehended alleged Chez Maman robber, as more details emerge

[Evan Goldin]

In case you missed the news on Twitter and SF Weekly, two armed men in ski masks stormed into popular 18th Street eatery Chez Maman last night. They demanded money from the restaurant's register, and they took wallets and valuables from diners.

The good news? Police have apprehended at least one suspect. According to an email from Bayview police captain Greg Suhr, "We believe we have one of the suspects already in custody and are hopeful we will have the other soon."

SF Weekly reports that they apprehended suspects "may also have robbed a 7-11 on Ocean Avenue before leading police on a careening chase through San Francisco. The suspects' car crashed into a pole at Randall and San Jose; one was arrested on the spot while another fled and is at large."

The suspect, Leonard Washington, 21, of San Francisco, was arrested on suspicion of robbery and taken to jail.

That's good news, and the incident last night brought a huge police presence to 18th Street, as shown on KTVU last night:

We have an exclusive eyewitness account, as well. One resident who lives nearby wrote:

I was walking my dog about 9:30 pm and just as I was approaching Chez Maman two guys in hoodies exited the restaurant and quickly walked past me, turning up Missouri. As it turned out, they had just robbed Chez Maman at gunpoint.

There were several customers in the restaurant at the time, and apparently all had wallets, purses, and cell phones taken at gunpoint. Nobody was hurt. Several patrol cars arrived about 1 minute later.

A pretty brazen robbery, considering the hour, that there were several people on the street despite the rainy night, and that I had just passed a patrol car with 2 cops inside parked at 18th and Texas.

Pretty brazen stuff. But great to know the police have hopefully caught the guys responsible. Let's hope that shows others that you can't get away with such acts of violence.

[Bay City News]
[SF Weekly]

[Evan Goldin]

Sadly, police are reporting another similar robbery on the Embarcadero:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/baycitynews/a/2010/03/...