EVENT
from today’s Flint Journal
as reported by Bryn Mickle:
FLINT – Two young girls were found safe Tuesday night two hours after the car they were sleeping in was stolen.
The girls, 3 and 4, were sleeping in the back seat of a running car about 7 p.m. when their father ducked into a Pasadena Avenue party store for some groceries.
The father, who police would not identify, exited the store a few minutes later to find his daughters and the 1987 Buick Century station wagon they were in were gone.
“It’s probably the scariest feeling imaginable if you have children,” said a clerk who was working at the Tony Stephens Superette where the father was shopping.
Police scoured the area for the missing station wagon with “spinner” wheel rims before two undercover Genesee County sheriff’s deputies found the car about 9:30 p.m. on Proctor Avenue about a block from the party store.
Flint police, however, had checked the same block about a half-hour earlier and found no signs of the car.
The girls were asleep in the back seat when police found the car; there was no sign of anyone else. Their father declined comment, other than to say he was relieved.
Police said it was unknown if the girls slept through the entire incident.
The girls were returned to their parents but police planned additional interviews with them.
Investigators also were reviewing store surveillance tapes for information.
“It appears it was just an attempt to take the car,” said Flint police Sgt. Devon Bernritter.
A missing child Amber Alert was issued to local police agencies and was in the process of being sent statewide when the girls were found.
Seeing as the car was found almost right away, and only two blocks distant, it seems likely that the perpetrators relized their mistake and bailed out… while it would’ve been preferable that they had dropped an anonymous tip (or not stolen the car in the first place), at least they had the humanity to cut their losses and let it go.
On a similarly weird note, my drivers license turned up in the mail.
Was it mailed by young thugs or a passing samaritan?
I’ll probably never know…
Parents: DON’T LEAVE YOUR 3-4 YEAR OLDS UNATTENDED IN YOUR CAR WHILE YOU SHOP!
~ Connor