A 16-year-old boy was talking on his phone on a Muni light-rail vehicle at Church Street and Duboce Avenue about 6:55 p.m. when one of three other teenage boys tried to take it.

A tug of war ensued, police said, and two of the punks pushed the victim off the vehicle and started beating him up, police said. The victim overpowered them, but the trio was able to flee with his phone.