London thief snatches phone from wrong target: She’s a triathlete

A thief in London learnt that looks can be deceiving when he decided one cold evening to snatch the phone of a woman that he must have thought was an easy mark.

She was a triathlete, and the thief must have quickly realised, while fleeing on foot, he was no match for her.

The incident was reported on Jan 24 by People magazine.

Ms Elizabeth Lopez-Aguilar, 24, of Texas, was on a nighttime stroll with her boyfriend after celebrating her birthday when she stopped to film a TikTok video, placing her phone on the ground before describing her outfit and where she had bought her coat.

In that moment, she said, a man in his mid-20s rushed past and snatched her phone.

“I thought it was a prank at first,” she said. “But I immediately sprang into action and chased after him.”

What the thief likely did not know was that Ms Lopez-Aguilar is not an average pursuer.

She has completed six triathlons, endurance races that combine swimming, cycling and distance running.

She quickly closed the gap.

Her boyfriend, Mr Abraham Tahtouh, an athlete and cyclist, also joined the chase and reached the man first. She arrived seconds later, grabbed his arm and recovered the phone.

The man did not fight back and left once the device was taken from him. The couple did not report the incident to the police.

She later described the experience as frightening but adrenaline-fuelled.

“My entire life is on that phone,” she told People. “Getting it back was a relief.”

A video of part of the encounter has drawn over nine million views, with viewers reacting to the unusual reversal: a thief outrun by his target.

“You go, girl,” said one comment on People’s home page.

Still, Ms Lopez-Aguilar said the outcome could have been very different.

Looking back, she said she was fortunate the man was not violent or armed.

“In the moment, all I was thinking about was getting my phone,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking about the bigger risks.”

Her advice to other people is straightforward: Stay aware of your surroundings, keep valuables secure and assess the danger before reacting – even if you are confident you can catch the thief.

One commenter on People’s home page agreed and said: “That’s why I would not walk around with my phone out. To me, that is just asking for someone to run by and snatch it. It’s good that she got it back though.”