Ventriloquist doll stolen in SF street mugging

A pair of bandits beat and robbed a man of his ventriloquist doll and took off near the Polk Gulch neighborhood of San Francisco, police said Friday. The 20-year-old victim was on the 1200 block of Van Ness Avenue near Post Street about 10:50 p.m. on Thursday when two men assaulted him and stole the dummy, fleeing north on Van Ness Avenue, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The victim was injured in the beating and taken to the hospital for treatment.