A New York City man was thrown off the roof of his own vehicle when it flipped over during an apparent car theft Monday night.
ABC 7 reported Tauree Thompson, 28, jumped onto the roof of his Lexus after three teenagers allegedly tried to steal it. While Thompson was holding onto the vehicle, the alleged thieves ran into a fire hydrant, causing the vehicle to flip over and propelling the man from the vehicle’s roof onto the sidewalk below.
Thompson had reportedly left his car idling while picking up a door dash order from the Taco Bell restaurant on Liberty Avenue in Richmond Hill, per AB7.
PIX 11 reported Thompson “ran out [of the restaurant] and tried to open the doors, then jumped on the SUV roof when he couldn’t get them to open.”
The three teenagers allegedly fled on foot, and police later found Johnson “unconscious on the ground with severe trauma about the body,” per PIX 11.
ABC 7 reported that Thomson was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and is in critical condition, having had part of his skull removed to combat brain swelling.
“I heard a screech coming from all the way down the block,” a witness recalled, per ABC 7. “It was coming so fast. Then it was like boom.”
Two fifteen-year-olds have been arrested in connection with the alleged attempted car theft. Police have yet to apprehend the third suspect and are unsure of who was driving, per ABC 7.
The two suspects who are in custody are charged with assault, grand larceny auto, criminal possession of stolen property, and unauthorized use of a vehicle, per PIX 11
Chimere Meerschman, Thompson’s cousin, has asked the third suspect to surrender him or herself to law enforcement.
“We want whoever else is responsible for this crime to come forward and give themselves up,” she told the New York Post. “This was a senseless crime.”