MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A Miami Beach woman says her son was left shaken after a thief got in her car while her son was in the backseat and stole her purse.
Heather Monanhan was filling up her car at the Marathon gas station off Fifth Street in South Beach, at around noon, July 31, when the thieves pulled up next to her car. Surveillance footage shows one thief open the driver’s side door and get in her car, before they sped away in their own car.
“The criminal pulled up right alongside of my car. They call him a poacher. He was sitting there waiting for a woman to be pumping gas by herself, probably not seeing my son in the back” Monanhan said. “He pulled up very quietly, somebody else was driving the car. He jumped out of his vehicle, jumped right into my vehicle, grabbed everything that he could and jumped back out.”
Monanhan said her son got on the floor in the backseat of the car until the thief left.
“He put his little body down here and hid until the man was gone,” she said.
Monanhan said her her son has been anxious and losing sleep since the crime.
“My son said this is the scariest thing that’s ever happened in his life,” she said. “He’s constantly walking on eggshells now. We’ve had a number of sleepless nights since this happened because he realized for the first time that you’re not necessarily safe when you’re near your home.”
Police are hoping that someone saw the crime, since it happened on a busy street in broad daylight.
If you saw anything, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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