LOS ANGELES (AP) — Thieves surrounded Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Walker Buehler last month outside a horse racing track in a Los Angeles suburb and ripped an expensive watch off his arm, police said Tuesday.
Buehler was not threatened during the mugging Sept. 28 at the Santa Anita Park horse racing track in Arcadia, police there said.
Police are investigating two similar episodes the same day that officials say were by organized groups who steal high-end watches in large crowds during events.
The theft came days after Buehler’s last regular-season game and a week before the Dodgers began the National League Divisional Series against the San Diego Padres on Saturday. Buehler is slated to start Game 3 of the series against the Padres on Tuesday night in San Diego.
It was the second time this year professional athletes in California have been mugged.
On Aug. 31, San Francisco 49ers rookie Ricky Pearsall was walking alone to his car after shopping at luxury stores in San Francisco’s Union Square when the NFL player was robbed at gunpoint by a teenager who took his Rolex watch and other expensive jewelry, prosecutors said.
A struggle ensued, and gunfire from the teen struck both Pearsall and the suspect, who was shot in the arm. Pearsall was shot through the chest at close range, officials said. His mother, Erin Pearsall, posted on social media that the bullet went through the right side of her son’s chest and out his back without striking vital organs. He was released from the hospital a day later.
Smash-and-grab thefts have been captured on videos in cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco and gone viral, feeding widespread concern about crime in the state. Voters will decide on a ballot measure that would roll back parts of a 2014 law that made many nonviolent thefts misdemeanors instead of felonies.
Jaimie Ding, The Associated Press