Single mom, 49, prevents car from being stolen in viral video: 'I just had to do what I had to do'
A supermom stopped a would-be thief from stealing her car, and video of the incident is going viral.
Tihisha Jones was taking her son to school on Tuesday when the little boy noticed a strange man in the driver’s seat of their car, which was parked in the Bronx, N.Y. The man was attempting to steal it, according to the NYPD.
Jones refused to let that happen, so she jumped into action. “I went into rage,” she told CBS New York.
“I came to the side to get him out this way, but I couldn’t get him out this way — he pulled the door to close it on me,” Jones told NBC New York, referring to the passenger side of the car. “I jumped across the car, open this door and I pull him out,” she said. “And then after that, I couldn’t tell you what happened. I just had to do what I had to do.”
Filmmaker Katie Mack recorded the whole thing from her window. She shared the video on Twitter and it now has over 47,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.
Bronx mom speaks out after stopping and detaining would be car thief. Video of incident via @KMackBrand pic.twitter.com/seSuG2NoYw
— Marcus Solis (@MarcusSolis7) December 18, 2018
Mack’s video begins after Jones removes the alleged thief, Bernardino Santiago, from the car. Jones has the 19-year-old trapped between her legs and her truck. She stomps on his leg before his shirt almost comes off. “He tried to get away, he tried to take off his shirt and that’s when I sat down on him,” Jones told CBS New York.
She straddles him until police arrive and arrest the man. “He’s lucky I didn’t kill him,” Jones told NBC New York.
When asked if she was scared for herself, Jones told NBC New York, “I couldn’t tell you that because I just was on adrenaline. “I was just worrying about Black Beauty, that’s all I was worrying about,” she said, referring to her car, because it’s her “lifeline.” It’s the only way she can get herself to many doctors’ appointments.
Jones is fed up with people trying to steal her hard-earned belongings. “I saved to get that car, myself. I’m a single parent. I saved to get that,” Jones told CBS New York.
“They just broke this window last week,” she told NBC New York about a previous break-in. “So I guess he got a whoopin’ for the old and the new,” she said of how she treated Santiago.
Santiago did not receive medical attention, according to CBS. Police told CBS New York he was “highly intoxicated.” Police said he told officers he “thought he was in an Uber,” CBS New York reports.
Santiago has since been charged with attempted grand larceny auto, attempted petit larceny and criminal possession of a weapon.
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