Dearborn Heights SUV theft caught on video

Thieves smash window, break gears, roll away with SUV

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, Mich. – Surveillance video shows what Dearborn Heights police call professional thieves stealing a sport utility vehicle in 20 seconds flat.

The thieves busted the window on the Ford Explorer. Then, one suspect slipped into the vehicle and broke the gear shift so his buddy could push the vehicle with another car from behind. They rolled away bumper-to-bumper.

"I'm really surprised at how quick it actually occurs," said Mark Parrinello, of the Dearborn Heights police.

The SUV was Hasan Naser's.

"I noticed my truck was missing. I really thought I had the wrong set of keys, I might have parked it somewhere else," Naser said. "I walked in the house, walked back out and it was really true. The truck was really missing."

Naser had parked the SUV on a residential street in Dearborn Heights. It was gone in a flash.

"The night that they stole the vehicle was the night that they took the 6th payment out of my bank account," he said.

Police recovered the vehicle in Grosse Pointe. It was thoroughly stripped.

"They took the battery out of the car. They took the hood of the car. They took the rims and tires of the car, the navigation," Naser said.

Police say the next time you see someone pushing a car with another car, you might want to report it.

"You see somebody late at night pushing a car, you might want to give us a call because it might not be legitimate," said Parrinello.