A pair of videos show a team of thieves stealing of a late-model Mercedes sedan in Red Bank Friday morning.
As seen below, the getaway nearly resulted in a collision with an ambulance.
In the videos, the thief can be seen jumping out of a black Audi, entering the white Mercedes and tearing out of the lot at the corner of Maple Avenue and West Front Street.
With the vehicle owner in hot pursuit on foot –in flip-flops – the thief runs the red light at the intersection, where the Mercedes nearly struck an eastbound car and a westbound ambulance.
The theft occurred shortly after 7 a.m., with multiple onlookers, a witness told redbankgreen.
Police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen Monday that the Mercedes was recovered later in the day in Newark, where it was found unoccupied. The Audi is believed to have been stolen from Rumson earlier that morning, and its status was unknown, McConnell said. There have been no arrests in the case.
McConnell said the the incident serves as a reminder for vehicle owners to lock their cars at all times when unattended, even if briefly.
“Red Bank and surrounding towns are still seeing a number of thefts of luxury vehicles from driveways; in most cases it is determined that key fobs were left in the vehicles by the owners,” he said.
In this case, the driver left the keys in the Mercedes, McConnell said. He added, via email:
We have learned that in certain models of cars, the outside mirrors fold in when the key fob is removed from the vehicle. They remain extended when the key fob is in the vehicle. This gives would-be thieves the ability to see at a glance if the key fob is present or not.
I do not know for certain if this model Mercedes has that feature, however a separate video viewed by police shows the Audi going north on Maple Avenue, passing 7-Eleven and turning right on Front Street and immediately into the lot by the Mercedes. You will also notice that the mirrors on the Mercedes are in fact extended, not folded in.
(Video courtesy Red Bank Police Department. Click to enlarge.)
