A couple leaves their car idling in a gas station parking lot… with their 6 month old child inside. The couple step away from the car to go talk with someone.

A man jumps into the car and starts to drive off.

The parents jump to the car, they manage to break the car window, Dad gets inside and beats the carjacker who then runs the car up onto the curb and flees. Carjacking scumbag unfortunately still at large.

Full story here.

Lots of things about this bug me:

“It happened in broad daylight”. People still believe that evil only lurks in the dark. No. Crime can and does happen any time, any where. You cannot let your guard down just because the sun is shining.

The Dad spoke of how he let his guard down for a second. Folks, that’s all it takes for bad things to happen. Vigilance. I understand being human. I understand being tired after long travels. But we have to train ourselves to remain in code yellow, especially when we’re tired, when we’re at a “stop & rob” (very popular targets for crime), when we’re in unfamiliar territory. It’s not easy, but crime isn’t forgiving.

They are describing this as heroic. Well, I admit the parents put up a good fight — it’s hard to beat a motivated individual. But they are overlooking the fact that none of this would have happened if they didn’t make a terrible mistake in the first place! Leaving their car running (a tempting target), and leaving their baby in the running car!

Lessons to be learned here.