SAN ANTONIO – A crime caught on tape brings up a theft trend in the San Antonio area.
Joseph Naymik caught something interesting on video Saturday afternoon behind the Best Buy on Military Drive. The clip on his phone shows two men getting out of their truck, grabbing something heavy off the ground and tossing it in their truck bed.
"When they drove off, I looked again and the manhole cover was gone and I was like, 'What?'" Naymik said.
Naymik said it's the first time he's witnessed this type of crime in person, but said he sees missing manhole and utility covers all the time, and wonders if the same men are behind the crimes.
When manhole covers are stolen, the quick fix is to put something over the hole to cover it, like wood or cardboard. The problem is if it gets moved, someone could easily fall in.
Naymik said he saw three more covers missing near a gas station at Southcross and Interstate 35, an area with a school nearby.
"I see a lot of the kids walking through there and they're on their phones texting their family or whatever or playing with each other. They're not expecting that a maniac took a manhole cover out (of) the street," he said.
He said he reported the incident he captured on his phone to the police, and hopes the people behind the thefts are caught.