Police find stolen vehicle woman clung to as thief drove away

MELBOURNE, Fla. — Police have found a vehicle that was stolen as the owner clung to the side while the thief drove away.

The Nov. 6 incident at a convenience store in Melbourne was captured on surveillance video.

Even though police have recovered the car, they couldn’t arrest anyone for the theft, and the owner did not get back her personal belongings, but she called police after finding items in the car that weren’t hers.

“Nothing of mine is in there. They destroyed it. They took the radio out. They did whatever they wanted to the inside,” said the car owner, Brandy Johnson.

Johnson, a single mother of two, bought the 2000 Chevy Cavalier two days before the theft.

She said that’s why she fought so hard to hold on the vehicle as it was being stolen.

The thief eventually forced her to roll off the vehicle onto Babcock Street.

“I bought it Friday, it got stolen Sunday. So I didn’t have a business day to register it, insure it or title it,” she said. “The title was in it when it was stolen. Now I have to apply for a title.”

Police found the stolen car during a traffic stop, but said the man in the surveillance video was not the same person behind the wheel.

Investigators are still working on identifying the car thief and determining how Johnson’s car ended up in someone else’s possession.

“I can’t even go past that store. I can’t go to that store. I’m traumatized,” she said.

Cox Media Group