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Surveillance Video Shows iPad Thieves Who Ripped Off Man's Finger

A surveillance image of the suspect (Denver Police Dept.)

DENVER (CBS/KCNC) Denver police have released surveillance video of a brazen thief that ripped off the victim's finger while ripping off his brand new iPad.

"I saw just a bone, all the skin and tendons and everything were off," Bill Jordan told CBS affiliate KCNC.

On Monday, Jordan picked up Apple's latest gadget in a Denver-area mall for a co-worker who had been promoted.

He left the Apple store with his iPad bag tied around his hand. Surveillance video shows two African-American men on an escalator following him.
Local Video from CBS4 in Denver

"The film shows them walking right behind me down the stairs as I was going out the store," Jordan explained.

A few feet from the doors to the parking garage Jordan felt a violent tugging at his arm. He looked down and saw a young man trying to grab his bag, reports KCNC.

"He was almost sitting on the ground he was pulling so hard and it was still tied around my fingers; and it wouldn't come off and then finally he gave it one big jerk; and that's when he stripped the skin off my pinky and it went right down to the bone."

The robber grabbed the iPad and ran out of the mall.

Jordan said he went into shock and used napkins from a food vendor to try and stop the bleeding. Paramedics rushed him to a hand surgeon who told him part of his left pinky would have to be amputated.

Now with his hand covered in bandages and his hand permanently damaged, Jordan has a message for the brazen criminals.

"I hope you understand what you've done to my life and my family's life for a simple piece of apparatus that'll be junk in a couple of years."

Ironically, Jordan told KCNC that he moved his family to Colorado from New Jersey 15 years ago to get away from crime there. Now after the iPad theft, he said his life and the life of his family will never be the same. 

Metro Denver Crimestoppers is offering a $2,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the suspects. To file an anonymous report, call 720-913-STOP or text message to 274637 (CRIMES), title DMCS & enter your message.

Reporting Contributed by CBS Affiliate KCNC

LINKS
April 20, 2010 - iPad Thief Rips Off Victim's Pinky, Too

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