Caught on camera: Brazen thief jumps in woman’s car at car wash
EAST POINT, Ga. - A trip to car wash for one woman in East Point left her without a car.
Tara Jones said she was there for less than five minutes when a guy hopped in and drove off, as she was standing feet away.
Surveillance footage shows the dramatic moments on video.
It show the suspect approach from behind the car as Jones was spraying it with water, and then the man jumps behind the wheel.
She blasted him with water -- in hopes he’d run off. It didn’t work.
"I grabbed hold to the side mirror as he was speeding up," she said. "I had to let go or he was going to drag me."
This all happened at Jay’s Car Wash on Washington Rd. in East Point on June 4, but she’s still searching for answers.
The suspect is seen from another security camera emerging from the back seat of a dark gray Honda near the vacuums in a dark hoodie.
"I’ve been to thousands of car washes and I would’ve never imagined that this would happen," she said.
Jones said she’s 20-year army veteran that just moved to the area from East Point less than two months ago.
While she regrets leaving the keys in the ignition, it’s a lesson she said she learned the hard way.
"Hey, you have to watch where you at anywhere, don’t matter who it is, so you have to watch wherever you are in Atlanta," she said. "You have to make sure that you are prepared wherever you go."
The car is a white 2016 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack with a black stripes near the back wheels.
Jones said as the guy was taking off from the car wash he hit another car, so it has some front-end damage.
She’s asking anyone with information to call East Point police.
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