HALETHORPE, Md. — “Am I getting pranked right now or is this real life?” Mackenize Brinkley thought to herself as she watched someone drive away in her car in the early evening hours on Saturday.
She had just carried some bags to her home, with her car still running, when a thief saw an opportunity, jumping in and speeding off.
But, a block over, the runaway driver appeared to pick up a friend he had walked into the neighborhood with.
“Like it’s an uber picking somebody up like nothing’s happening,” Brinkley said.
Neighbors attempted to stop the car theft by trapping the driver, but they backed into their car and got away.
Brinkley says they were able to track the car via the Kia app parked in an alley less than three minutes away.
First, they had to find her phone, which was also thrown out of the car.
“My bumper is scratched, and then they ran into another car, so my driver door hinge is smashed in, so I can’t open my door more than two inches. I had to really climb from the passenger side to get in to be able to drive my car to work the next day,” Brinkley said.
Just days prior in the very same community, Baltimore County Police Department says 14 cars were tampered with.
It’s unclear if the incidents are connected, but have overall have left the neighborhood uneasy.
“I don’t feel safe. I don’t think any of the neighbors feel safe,” Brinkley said. “We kind of all agree that, you know, we just take it one day at a time, one night at a time, and just pray that our cars aren’t broken into. A lot of people are starting to get cameras more and more.”
“Right now we’re being terrorized,” neighbor Michael Vichich said.
Data shows car thefts are down this year compared to the same period last year, but that does little to make neighbors feel better.
Vichich says the changes in their quiet neighborhood hit home last month when his wife’s car was broken into.
The same night his neighbor’s car was stolen.
The department says they’ve increased patrols and are canvassing the neighborhood for more surveillance video but Vichich, a former police officer himself, says he believes more can be done.
“They’re not making citizen contacts. They don’t know who’s who in the neighborhood. I don’t know the police that patrol this area,” he said.
He hasn’t heard any follow through on their case. Brinkley’s concern is it’ll be the same for her as the suspects may be juveniles.
“I think that they’re just going to continue to let these things happen and hopefully one day catch them, but as of right now, I’m not too sure they’re [going to] try,” Brinkley said.
