NEW YORK — A mother took down a man allegedly trying to steal her car in New York City Tuesday, and it was all captured on video.
“Not today, he didn’t win today,” said Tihisha Jones. “I won today, I’m the hero today.”
The altercation happened in the Bronx around 7 a.m., police told WPIX. A woman in a nearby building recorded video of the incident on her cellphone and shared it on Twitter.
Jones, who has heart issues and uses a walker, had used a remote starter to turn on her SUV and allow it to warm up in the frigid morning air, according to police.
When she walked outside to the vehicle with her 7-year-old son Tyler, the boy pointed out that there was a man inside, police said. The man was on the driver’s side, and had allegedly piled up the victim’s belongings on the passenger seat.
Jones immediately opened the black SUV’s passenger side door to get him out, but he closed the door on her, police said.
She then went to the driver’s side, opened the door, pulled him out and held him there until officers arrived, according to authorities.
“I didn’t give him a chance to do anything, I just grabbed him,” Jones said. “He did try to get away, but that’s when I sat down on him.”
Responding officers arrested 19-year-old Bernadino Santiago, who lives nearby. Police said that he appeared to be intoxicated and claimed he was yanked out of an Uber.
“I really do depend on this car,” Jones told WPIX when asked why she took the risk of tussling with the stranger. “That was my hard-earned coins, I’m a single parent.”
The teen, who was shirtless despite temperatures in the 20s at the time, faces charges of grand larceny, petty larceny and criminal possession of stolen goods, police said.
