A New Jersey woman recounted the moments when she and her daughter attempted to stop a brazen car theft right in front of their home.
Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s home caught the moments the mother-daughter duo sprang into action when they saw a pair of car thieves making off with one of their cars.
Video showed the thieves get out of a white Acura and survey two cars that were warming up in the driveway of Andrea Hayes’ home.
One of the cars, a Kia, had an auto theft bar on the steering wheel, so the thieves targeted the white Honda CR-V. Just as they begin driving the SUV out of the driveway, the video shows Hayes and her daughter Autumn running out of their house to stop them.
“As (my daughter) grabbed the bat, the car was going- it jumped off the driveway and then came around to get on the sidewalk and she took the bat and she flung it and busted the car window,” Hayes told ABC7.
The perpetrators sped off just as Hayes and her daughter ran up to their stolen car. Hayes said they ran over her daughter’s toe as they made their getaway.
“It was just adrenaline. You know, the fact that someone was bold enough to come on to your property and, you know, you just you just react,” Hayes said.
Even though Autumn suffered an injury trying to stop the theft, police say her quick action to shatter the CR-V’s back window helped lead investigators to the stolen car, which was found just a few blocks away from the Hayes’ home.
“But I’m thankful to have the car back. The detective said that, you know, the fact that the broken window was– it might have been a deterrent,” Hayes said, adding that she got the window repaired.
Authorities are using the surveillance footage capturing the theft as evidence to try to track down the culprits. Hayes said this was the second time thieves targeted her family’s vehicles.
“People are tired. You know, you work hard, you try to give back to your community and, you know, for somebody to come on to your property and violate that, that’s you know, it’s a tough pill to swallow, you,” Hayes said.
Hayes added that her daughter is currently recovering from a toe injury.
No arrests have been made so far.
