One San Fransisco lawyer’s response to a daylight mugging was to simply follow his thieves.  David Newdorf, a former marathon runner, was walking in downtown San Francisco talking on his cellphone, when one teenager grabbed him in a headlock.  An accomplice then grabbed Mr. Newdorf’s cell phone out of his hand.  As Mr. Newdorf noted, they grabbed the two year old Motorola, but not the iPad 2 in his other hand.  The thives ran off.  Mr. Newdorf followed.  They tried to lose him but could not.  The chase ended when one thief circled a park bench with Mr. Newdorf circling around.  The teen eventually handed back the cell phone.  Mr. Newdorf responded by snapping pictures of the now three thieves.  See Ginny Larae’s blog post with pictures.  

He continued to follow the thieves and phone in updates to the the police.  At some point, the largest of the bunch threatened the lawyer, "stop following my homies or I’ll f— you up."  Undeterred, Mr. Newdorf continued to update the police until all three were caught.  The lawyer identified the purported thieves, and even suggested particular criminal defense lawyers for the them.