Alex Srour believes a split-second warning — an urgent and top-of-the-lungs “Watch out!” from a man somewhere behind him — saved his life on the Pacific Beach boardwalk Monday.
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The 20-year-old said he turned around just in time to see something “go flying” — he thinks it was a woman — yards behind him and a fast-moving blue car closing in, “dust everywhere.”
“He’s like barreling at me 20 feet away,” Srour said, “I had less than one second to even react.”
He scrambled off his bike as the passing car clipped his bike’s front tire. When the car came to a stop several feet ahead of a shocked Srour, he sprang into action, hitting record on his Meta Glasses, then chasing and helping catch the driver, whom police took into custody. Srour posted the footage (which includes several expletives) on Instagram. Within 24 hours, it had 2.6 million views.
According to San Diego police, the car was a Tesla that had been stolen moments earlier. Police spotted it headed south on Mission Boulevard about 12:30 p.m. and pursued when the car sped off. Police said they called off the chase for public safety reasons, but the fleeing driver turned the car right onto Pacific View — then right again onto the boardwalk.
Police said the car was going at “a high rate of speed” up the narrow path of the often busy boardwalk south of Crystal Pier. Security footage from the area shows people hurrying to get out of the way.
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Between Reed and Thomas streets, the car struck a 25-year-old woman; Srour believes she was the person he saw in the air. Police said the woman sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries — two broken vertebrae, two broken ribs and a cut to her abdomen that required stitches.
Srour, a Lakeside resident and college student, said he routinely rides his bike along the boardwalk. After he hustled off his bike to avoid the Tesla — “Six inches from dying,” he said — the car stopped several feet ahead of him. Srour began recording on the Meta Glasses bought in April and recorded a man climbing out of the Tesla’s driver’s side window, then running off.
Adrenaline took over, Srour said. He started running after the man, encouraging others to join him, the video shows. He and another bystander caught up with the suspected driver in a nearby parking lot. Srour said he pushed the man, whom the video shows stumbling and falling to the ground. In the video, Srour stays on top of the man, yelling at him until police arrive a few minutes later and arrest him.
Police said they arrested the suspect, a 39-year-old man, on suspicion of driving under the influence, hit-and-run involving an injury, felony evading of police and vehicle theft. He remained jailed Tuesday in lieu of $100,00 bail and is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in San Diego Superior Court.
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