Man fights off car thieves in Louisiana, takes matters into his own hands
By Travers Mackel
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NEW ORLEANS (WDSU) — Car theft is a crime that plagued people across New Orleans in 2022.
More than 4000 cars were stolen in the city last year; 4011, to be exact, according to the New Orleans City Council crime dashboard.
An increase of over 35 percent from last year when 2960 cars were stolen.
Car theft is a crime police take seriously, and on Christmas Day, one man fell victim and tried to take matters into his own hands.
The victim— who WDSU News is not identifying — was simply dropping off a present to a neighbor on Christmas Day in the Uptown area.
He left his red SUV running while dropping off a gift, telling WDSU News he only expected his delivery to take 60 seconds.
That’s when this silver SUV pulls up, with two males inside, and one gets out and gets behind the wheel of the victim’s red SUV.
The victim then throws his gift at the car — he tells us it was a pot of gumbo — and climbs on top, reaching in through the sunroof to try and wrestle the suspect out.
After a few seconds, he gets the thief’s jacket, and the suspect exits the car, gets back into the other car, and they drive off.
“Your adrenaline is going, but you have to think again … most of these people doing these carjackings are armed,” said Mike Cahn.
A former New Orleans Police Department commander, and security expert, Cahn says people in the city are frustrated with the crime.
However, he advises that people should never take matters into their own hands.
“It’s dangerous for you and everyone else involved. In this situation, get as much info as you can and a good description of the perps and let them go. Again, it’s property — it can be replaced. We have to get in the habit of when we get out of a vehicle, take the key with you, ” said Cahn.
The victim issued WDSU a statement:
” I was nearly run over twice and reacted on instinct to protect myself and my property. What would you do in this situation? In hindsight, there were better decisions I could have made, but I am fed up with crime in our city. We expect our police and municipal leaders to do what is necessary to protect its citizens.”
The victim did file a police report online and said he did not suffer any serious injuries.
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