Father reunited with twin toddlers after thief steals car

ATLANTA - Once again, video shows how quickly a car thief can strike.

Atlanta Police say 29 year old Lester Chaney admitted he left his twin one year old daughters in the back of his car, with the keys in the ignition, as he approached the front of this gas station just before midnight September 3. It was just long enough for a thief to hop in and take his car.

"It don't matter where you are Alpharetta or on the South side of town, this can happen to anybody. You just can't leave your kids and the keys in the car...ever," said Marvin Ricks of Jonesboro.

The Texaco manager who shared the surveillance video with FOX 5 said the store, located just outside I-285 on Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard was already closed when Chaney arrived, which explains why Chaney did an about-face and headed back to his car at the pump. Chaney was just a few steps from the car when a car thief sped away with Chaney futilely running behind his own car.

Atlanta Police say the thief took off Eastbound on Martin Luther King and dumped Chaney's car less than a quarter of a mile away on Harwell Drive. One toddler was still fastened in the car seat. The other was on the side of the road, but still in her carseat. Both were unharmed and reunited with their father minutes later.

"Even if they are asleep, you have to get the kids out your car. You can always put the back to sleep, but there's never a guarantee you can get them back if someone steals your car," Ricks, the father of a three year old boy, said.

Police do not have a good description of the car thieves.