Cameras Capture Wash House Bluz Blues After Patron's Car Is Stolen
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DANIA (CBSMiami) – At the Wash House Bluz laundromat in Dania Beach, the music rocks, the laundry rolls – and for one woman, it was a case of the blues Tuesday.
"You never think that it's going to happen to you. I'm over here doing my laundry, going to get my car stolen in a matter of seconds," said a woman who asked that we use only her first name, Veronica.
Security video Tuesday afternoon shows a guy in a ball cap circling Veronica's sparkling, 2013 Camry right at the front door. There were lots of folks around.
"Not a minute, not even one minute was I here," Veronica told CBS4 News on Wednesday.
She was unaware in the minute it took to dash in and throw her clothes in the dryer, the guy, just steps away, could take her car before she dashed back out.
But there he was in the security video, climbing into her car and backing out.
The video shows Veronica coming on the run, trying to stop the thief.
"I chased him. I tried to get in the car, tried to pull him out of the car, it didn't work well," She said. "He was putting the window up, I had a box of softener, I just hit him in the face with it."
She tried to block his path, but he swerved around her in the parking lot.
Cops have one major thing going for them, however.
"I wanted everyone to be safe," Wash House Bluz owner Kevin Letize said Wednesday.
When Letize had his grand opening last month, he made sure he had state of the art security video. It captured Tuesday's theft from more than half a dozen angles.
Deputies were back at the Wash House Bluz Wednesday, already working leads.
"I'm hoping that the high-tech video surveillance system catches the bad guy," Letize said.
In retrospect, having watched her plight on the security videos, Veronica has one major regret –she left the keys in her car.
"Okay, I'm gonna take 30 seconds. You have the owner and some other guys standing here having a conversation, another lady, everybody watching, you know this is going to take me thirty seconds. What's going to happen?" she said, incredulous that the bandit struck in a flash, even as she was on the cusp of dashing back to her car.
Veronica, who works full time as a property manager and moonlights a second job, is driving a rental now.
A college graduate, she knows she shouldn't have left her keys in the car. Because of that, her insurance might not pay for it.
"I hope they get my car. If not, just get him so he won't be stealing more cars," she said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.