Caught On Video: Man Steals Car, Crashes It Moments Later In Back Of The Yards
CHICAGO (CBS) – Video shows a silver car get plowed into by a red sport-utility vehicle and then go crashing into someone's yard in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.
Behind the wheel of that silver car was a thief trying to steal it. CBS 2's Jermont Terry caught up with the woman whose car got stolen.
Brenda Hernandez said she left her Toyota Highlander running Friday morning because she ran back inside the house to grab the kids. But before she could make it down the stairs, she saw a man opening her car door.
She yelled at the man, but she didn't make it all the way down the stairs - because the man pointed a gun at her as she tried running back in the house and failed. The guy took off, but he did not get far at all.
"Yeah, I'm scared," Hernandez said.
Her fear is for good reasons. The thief – seen wearing all black on surveillance video – spotted Hernandez's SUV running as he walked down Laflin Street near 49th Street at 7:26 a.m. Friday. He is seen crossing the street and jumping inside before Hernandez appears on the stairs.
"I see the guy with the gun, like this, and he goes to the truck and turns around," Hernandez said.
She said the man did not say anything to her – only gesturing with his eyes. The look in the man's eyes, and the sight of the gun, was enough for Hernandez to stay away.
In the video, you can see Hernandez fall at the bottom stair, as the armed thief pulls off. But when he did so, he clipped another SUV and slammed right into Victor Cervantes' front yard.
"I just got the house," Cervantes said. "Tt was not expected."
When Cervantes says he just got the house, he is not kidding – he moved in a week ago.
The gunman jumped out of the SUV and has not been seen since. But another look at the video shows the second car – driven by a woman - nearly flipped.
"She was in shock, you know?" Cervantes said. "She didn't know what had happened."
The stolen SUV destroyed Cervantes' iron gate, and stopped inches from damaging the new house.
"The stairs held up pretty good," Cervantes said.
Despite the crazy scene, no one was injured.
Cervantes said the fence was one thing he was going to replace at some point, but now he's forced to do it much sooner than planned. But he's going to make sure he gets something just as strong in its place.