Baby safe after Tenderloin vehicle theft, kidnapping

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- There were some tense and scary moments Wednesday morning in San Francisco's Tenderloin district after a man hijacked a car with a four-month-old baby inside.

Thanks to an observant cop, police were able to locate and arrest the man.

The inident happened at 10:30 a.m. in the Tenderloin. Zhi Xiong Han parked his blue Scion and waited to pick up his wife. The baby was in the backseat. All of a sudden, he heard banging on his car.

"Another individual came up and kicked the vehicle, so the father pulled over to try to inspect the car to see if there was any damage," said San Francisco public information officer Grace Gatapandan.

Another person later identified as Solomon Alemu jumped into the car and drove off. Han flagged down police who then radioed the description of the car, and license plate number.

Sgt. Kin Lee was driving on the 500 block of Bryant Street looking for the car when he thought he spotted it. The suspicious car was parked in front of the public defender's office door at 555 Seventh Street.

"I only heard a partial plate at the time, so I wasn't able to confirm if that was the car or not, but once I exited my driver side door the driver came out of the driver's side door," said Sgt. Kin Lee.

Lee was right and he said Alemu explained what happened.

"He did say he just got into the car and there was a baby in the back. So, I handcuffed him, opened the door and saw the baby in the back seat still strapped into the car seat," Kim said.

The baby was reunited with his mom and dad.

"Just doing my job," Lee said. "Every single police officer in the nation would have done the same."

Others would call him a hero. The suspect was arrested and Sgt. Lee did get the last word.

Dispatcher: Is the suspect in cuffs at 555 7th Street? Can you advise if you have the baby there?

Kim: The baby's fine.

Alemu is a client of the public defender's office and he was arrested in March on drug and robbery charges.