A San Leandro high school student robbed a blind woman of her cell phone in the city’s downtown but was captured after alert bystanders and police chased him down, officials said Friday.

Jujuan Despanie, 18, was booked in Santa Rita Jail and charged Friday with felony counts of robbery and abuse against a dependent adult along with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest.

“I have seen many cruel acts committed against different people, but this one is especially disturbing,” San Leandro police Lt. Isaac Benabou said in a statement. “People in our community with disabilities are sometimes defenseless and should never be seen as a target for criminals due to their vulnerability.”

The alleged mugging happened as the 38-year-old victim, who was not named, was walking from the BART station down Davis Street on her way to a meeting around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

As she neared Clarke Street, using the white cane to scan her surroundings, she felt someone attempting to grab her iPhone out of her hand, police said.

The woman tried to fight back by holding onto her phone, but during the struggle, police said, she lost her balance and fell over. Her assailant then ripped the phone out of her hand prompting her to scream for help, officials said.

Witness heard the woman’s screams and jumped into action. One person on a bike called 911 and followed the suspect has he ran into a nearby neighborhood, police said.

Another witness on a nearby balcony watched the robbery and called police, officials said.

Officers rushed to the scene and found Despanie hiding between two cars several blocks from the scene of the attack, police said. The suspect, officials said, tried to run and resist arrest while being detained. Police said Despanie had the victim’s cell phone on him when he was arrested.

Meanwhile, an AC Transit bus driver stopped and helped the victim and drove her back to the BART station where she got help from the station attendant.

The victim could not identify the suspect because she is blind, but both witnesses positively identified Despanie as the robber, police said.

Efforts to reach Despanie’s attorney were not immediately successful.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky