Surveillance video captured the moment a would-be thief smashed the window of a truck in New Orleans, only to set off a flash-bang rigged by a fed-up motorist who was tired of burglars breaking into his vehicle.
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The video, obtained by WDSU, appears to show a white sedan pulling beside a white pickup truck before an individual hops out of the car and smashes the truck’s window. The suspect leaps into the window and appears to be surveying the vehicle when the flash-bang detonates, startling the would-be thief and sending him and the sedan scurrying, according to the video.
Flash-bangs are non-lethal explosives that create a loud noise and emit intense light upon detonation to disorient and daze people, Oregon Public Radio reported.
The fed-up truck owner, who chooses to remain anonymous, told KNUE that his vehicle’s windows had been repeatedly smashed in the past few months.
“To see him like gleefully walk up and just smash my eighth window in the past couple months and jump in and then you know to see the detonation go off and his reaction,” he said.
He hopes the incident serves as a deterrent to future potential car burglars.
“He probably didn’t get hurt that bad, but it wasn’t pleasant and it might deter him and his friends and tell other people not to do this too because, without something like this, there is no consequence because they’re not going to get arrested,” he told KNUE.
Citing the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) crime data, the outlet noted that car burglaries are up 116 percent compared to the same period last year in the Central Business District, where the motorist lives.
He told KNUE that he is looking to move:
My condo is for sale. I don’t want to live there anymore because I can’t keep paying for windows. It’s almost like a culture now on a big night, whether it’s something like the Final Four or you know, a holiday weekend, something like that, you can almost expect it in my neighborhood.
In a statement, the NOPD condemned the man’s decision to rig a flash-bang inside of his truck, per WDSU:
While we understand the frustrations our citizens have with crime, rigging an explosive device to detonate inside a vehicle is illegal and a bad idea.
Not only is there a risk of injury to yourself and others, there could be serious legal ramifications for everyone involved.
“Please call your District station or Crimestoppers to report illegal activity,” the statement concluded.
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