A group from Kentucky and Tennessee who were the victims of a recent smash-and-grab prevented another robbery from happening in San Francisco Saturday.
Clifton Roth and his group spent a few days in wine country and then on Saturday stopped in San Francisco for a quick hike before leaving town.
After the hike, Roth and the rest of the group found their rental car had been broken into.
While the group was waiting for the tow truck, they witnessed an attempted break-in right in front of them.
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According to Roth, one of them yelled at the would-be thieves while the other threw a rock at their car, scaring them off before they could break in.
''When you have been hurt like that, when you've been hurt and victimized like that, you see someone else, it's natural to respond. To me, that seems like the natural human response,” Roth said.
Among the items that were lost included an army backpack with special meaning to one of the visitors, who served two tours in Iraq.
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Incredibly, Roth and his group were able to get it back thanks to a San Francisco man who stopped to help.
Roth told NBC Bay Area that the man connected with other community members on social media and helped tracked down the person who found it dumped on the street.
“Even though we experienced some of the darkness in San Francisco right now, we also experienced the light,” Roth added.
The man who stopped to help said it wasn't the first time he's helped reunite luggage with smash-and-grab victims in the city.
