If your car is broken into or stolen, you are usually the one who calls the police, not the other way around. But early Friday morning, that’s what happened to a Montgomery County man and his family.
Although the perpetrators were not successful in stealing any cars in this incident, Cheltenham Police said at least one car was stolen overnight.
read in spanish
Investigators believe both incidents are related to social media trends targeting specific vehicles.
“I got a call last night and the police knocked on my door and said, ‘Do you own this Kia?’ That’s when I found out it had been broken into,” Elkins Park resident David Coe said. told NBC10.
Coe’s 2022 Kia vehicle is currently inoperable after the incident.
Cheltenham police officers were patrolling his street when they first spotted him around 1am on Friday.
“We came out and the first thing we saw was all the passenger side windows were smashed and glass was flying everywhere,” Coe explained.
The steering column and ignition were torn apart, parts flying everywhere.
Cheltenham Police say this is part of a dangerous trend on TikTok in which thieves are targeting specific makes and models of Kia and Hyundai cars.
But those who did this eventually realized that there was no way they were going to get away with this new model of Kia any time soon.
“It’s really inconvenient to suddenly get out of the car like that. It’s really frustrating,” Ms Koh said.
And what was most frustrating about the situation for Coe and his family was that the club normally used to thwart criminals was in the car, but not attached to the steering wheel.
“We usually have it on. Sometimes we forget, we’re human. But most of the time, especially at night, we put it on our cars to prevent things like this,” said Koh. explained.
And while the 12-year-old’s father was lucky to have his car repaired, he’s still amazed by the whole experience.
“It’s also very invasive. When I got out, it felt like a part of me was invaded because this is our car,” he said.
Coe encourages everyone to make their cars safe, no matter where they live. Although you have insurance for repairs, you will likely have to pay for some out of pocket.
