Carjackers Return Android Phone To Uber Eats Driver Because It Wasn't An iPhone

A couple was sadly robbed and had their truck stolen in a pair of brazen thieves right outside their Washington D.C. apartment. While occurrences like this happen way too often, what's bizarre about this theft was in the midst of the robbing, the perpetrators took one look at the victim's Android phone and decided to give it back. The reason? It was not an iPhone.

On November 30, a man from Northwest Washington D.C. came home after an early morning Uber Eats shift. After parking his car near his apartment, two masked and armed men approached the victim—one came on foot in the 2400 block of 14th Street, NW, while the other drove up in a black BMW. 

The thieves robbed the man blind, basically "everything he had in his pockets, took the keys to my truck and got in and pulled off," recounted the wife of the victim. However, the robbers were apparently picky enough to notice the husband's Android phone. The wife continued, "They basically looked at that phone and was like Oh, that's an Android? We don't want this. I thought it was an iPhone". Talk about misguided priorities. Perhaps the carjackers preferred an iPhone, because it usually guarantees a better after-market (or black market) resale price.

The irony of this unfortunate incident is that the crime occurred on the same day as a public hearing proposing a bill to fight a surge in crime. D.C Police Chief Pamela Smith, on the other hand, thinks otherwise. She said that the department has seen improvements, saying that "Carjackings are down 7%. Assault with a dangerous weapon is down 6% and vehicle theft is down 11%. Overall, indexed violent crime is down three crimes and robbery is up 14 crimes over the prior period in 2023."

Nonetheless, we hope the couple can recover emotionally and financially from this frightening ordeal.