--- description: A California teen jumped on the hood of the Iphone burglar's car. title: Teen Killed Chasing Down Stolen Iphone image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ac19ea53e7cc8e/69869b0c3bc99921911a473b/500231303.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Teen Killed While Chasing iPhone Thief by [Hannah Goldberg](/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2014 2:58 PM CUT  Teenagers on smart phones; Internet addiction Teenagers on smart phones; Internet addictionKritina Lee Knief—Getty Images by [Hannah Goldberg](/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 9, 2014 2:58 PM CUT Police are [asking for the public’s help](http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hernandez-628343-rubi-bertagna.html "undefined") tracking down a thief who stole a California teen’s iPhone last week. The young girl was killed after jumping onto the hood of a speeding car in an attempt to retrieve the device. 15-year-old Rubi Rubio of Santa Ana was walking her 7-year-old sister home from school around noon last Thursday when a thief took her iPhone and jumped into a car. Rubio briefly held on to the burglar’s car before falling off and hitting her head, [said](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FIPHONE%5FTHEFT%5FDEATH?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined") police corporal Anthony Bertagna. “According to witnesses, the vehicle was swerving in an attempt to get her off,” Bertagna told the Orange County _Register_. The teen died of her injuries while surrounded by family members in Western Medical Center Santa Ana on Saturday. Rubio’s mother, Marisol Hernandez, said she gave her daughter the phone after Rubio received good grades in her sophomore year of high school. “She was my support all the time and she deserved it,” Hernandez told the _Register_. “I don’t know exactly what happened,” she said, questioning her daughter’s decision to chase the vehicle. Superintendent of Santa Ana Unified School District Rick Miller said in a statement that grief counseling will be available for friends, family, teachers and others affected by Rubio’s death. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2969607/teen-killed-stolen-iphone-car/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2969607/teen-killed-stolen-iphone-car/"},"headline":"Teen Killed While Chasing iPhone Thief","datePublished":"2014-07-09T14:58:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:02:40.771Z","description":"California teen killed chasing her Iphone","url":"https://time.com/2969607/teen-killed-stolen-iphone-car/","keywords":["Crime","Death","iPhone","teen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ac19ea53e7cc8e/69869b0c3bc99921911a473b/500231303.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt15ac19ea53e7cc8e/69869b0c3bc99921911a473b/500231303.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kritina Lee Knief—Getty Images","caption":"Kritina Lee Knief—Getty Images","creditText":"Kritina Lee Knief—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2969607/teen-killed-stolen-iphone-car/","name":"Teen Killed While Chasing iPhone Thief"}}]}] ```