A Detroit woman refused to wait for the police to track down the suspected thief who stole her Mercedes Benz, so she took matters into her own hands.
Bianca Chambers posted about her stolen car on Facebook and the post went viral. She used social media tips to track her car throughout the city. At one point, the thief hit up the strip mall where she owns a boutique. She tracked her car for three days, calling the police each time she found it. But by the time law enforcement arrived at the scene, the thief was gone.
The final time she found it, Chambers took matters into her own hands, Fox 5 Atlanta reports.
When the alleged thief boldly made a stop at the barbershop on Wednesday, Chambers decided to pull up on him.
“At that point, I was like…I’m not letting this man walk again,” she said.
Chambers live-streamed the experience from outside the barbershop at Greenfield and Grand River.
“He’s at 7 Days West, getting his dreds twisted,” she said in a Facebook Live while watching her car. She even slashed all four tires so he didn’t flee again.
“They was driving, they was having a good time, they was smoking but, yes, when I got my car, it was very clean,” Chambers said, noting that the suspected thief had the car detailed.
A video shows the confrontation that took place inside the barbershop between Chambers and the alleged car thief. He initially denied being the driver of the car and that’s when Chambers snapped.
“I went inside, asked him if that was his car, and I hit him,” she told The Detroit News. The video shows her grabbing the suspected thief by his dreadlocks and dragging him out of the shop. Customers helped make a citizens’ arrest until authorities arrived.
“I slashed all the tires and I thought that he was gonna take off and I didn’t know how long it was going to take for the police to pull up. And I refused to let him pull off again,” she said.
Police arrived at the scene and arrested the man, whose name has not been released.
“We’ve got a victim who allegedly stole this car who was assaulted, but he didn’t want to press charges, so [Chambers] wasn’t arrested,” Detroit police 2nd Deputy Chief Rudy Harper told The Detroit News.
Officers said the individuals who helped detain the man did not perform a proper citizen’s arrest.
“But that wasn’t a citizen’s arrest; it was a felonious assault. She even admits on the video that she assaulted the man,” Harper added.
“Well, I guess I would’ve just taken the assault charge, then,” Chambers responded. “I mean, this guy is cruising around in my car. Now, he’s getting his hair done, about to pick whoever up and go joyriding. That’s just wrong.”
According to reports, the accused thief has a history of car thefts. He will not press charges against Chambers for assaulting him.
Chambers called him “the dumbest criminal” because of the way he went “joyriding in my car like nobody was going to see,” she said.
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