He checked on it once but noticed it had vanished when he went back across the street to give a police officer his information. A passer-by told him he had seen a man in a dark suit walk off down Sixth Street with the bag, which contained his General Assembly-issued iPad, a personal cellphone, wallet, cash and credit card.

“No good deed, right?” Freitas quipped, before jogging off in his suit and cowboy boots in pursuit. He looked for a few blocks before giving up the chase.

Asked later what he would have done if he had found the thief, Freitas politely declined to speculate.

A Chesterfield County man said he was with co-workers on their way to lunch when they saw the crash and decided to follow the car because it had no license plates.

He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation and said people in his car were on the phone with the police for nearly an hour before officers got to Jackson Ward, where Simmons was arrested. The man said Simmons was arrested near Clay and Adams streets, roughly half a mile from the scene of the collision.

“I called back numerous times because we were afraid they would leave,” he said. “It was very frustrating.”