19-year-old thug charged over series of armed carjackings after five-mile 100mph SFPD chase caused freeway mayhem
A 19-year-old felon wanted for an armed carjacking led San Francisco cops on a five-mile, 100mph pursuit through the city — running red lights, crashing into other vehicles and ramming a patrol car — while on probation for gun possession, a court has been told.
Nehemiah Meafua will appear today at the Hall of Justice to set a preliminary hearing date. After his arrest last month he was charged in connection with another carjacking — a horrific 2024 incident in which a San Francisco Lyft driver was badly beaten, brutalized and robbed of his Tesla.
According to court documents, an SFPD officer on patrol in Visitacion Valley on the evening of March 3 2025 spotted Meafua driving a 2016 BMW 650i that had been stolen in an armed carjacking in Daly City a week earlier.
The driver refused to pull over and instead sped away northbound on the 101 freeway.
“During the pursuit,” wrote assistant district attorney Rebecca Warren in a motion to detain, “the defendant drove with extreme disregard for the safety of people and property.”
In the five mile chase, prosecutors say, Meafua drove at 100mph, crashed into multiple cars on the 101, ran a red light after leaving the freeway, rammed a Honda near the intersection of Duboce Avenue and Valencia Street and then rammed a patrol car in an unsuccesful effort to escape.
Meafua and two juveniles were arrested. Officers found three loaded pistols in the car, including a 9mm pistol on the driver’s side floor.
The car he was driving had been stolen in an incident just before 10:30pm on February 26 when a man in Daly City was robbed of his phone, shoes and jewelry by “five to six” assailants, four of whom pointed guns at him.
After pistol-whipping the man the gang stole his BMW.
The victim told Daly City PD that one of the suspects was a thin Samoan male, 5’10” to 5’11” in height.
On June 22 2024, say prosecutors, a Lyft driver sitting in his Tesla Model Y in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood was violently assaulted by Meafua and accomplices. The vile thugs recorded themselves pouring beer on the driver, kicking him in the head multiple times and robbing him.
Meafua took the driver’s watch from his wrist while another attacker stole the key card used to start the Tesla. Minutes later one of the crew drove off in the Tesla while the others followed in another car.
The victim was later found to have multiple facial and orbital fractures.
On January 14 2025 in San Mateo Superior Court Mefua pleaded ‘no contest’ to one felony count of carrying a loaded firearm after being arrested in possession of a gun in Daly City in July 2024.
Judge Kevin Dunleavy imposed a suspended 60-day jail sentence.
Meafua earlier pleaded not guilty to eight felony counts relating to the March 2025 incident and two further felony charges arising from the 2024 carjacking and robbery. He also faces new charges, plus accusations that he violated the terms of his probation, in San Mateo county.
He is presently in custody in San Francisco County Jail and will appear today in Department 20 of the city’s Hall of Justice in order to set a date for his preliminary hearing.
The case continues.
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