Videos show thieves using stolen vehicles to smash into businesses and grab what they can
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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – On Monday, we received an upsetting video from one of those smash-and-grabs with stolen SUVs last week. This video shows how thieves busted into Record Archive on East Avenue. The owner shared the video with me. After sneaking up the sidewalk to Record Archive, the driver of the stolen SUV used it like a battering ram to bust through the front door. Two people ran inside and went straight for the cash register. They were in and out in 30 seconds.
Alayna Alderman, owner of Record Archive said, “I’m grateful because my biggest concern is that nobody got hurt. They got away with 10 bucks and change. So, it’s ridiculous.”
A short time after the SUV left the scene, a stolen SUV crashed into Comedy at the Carlson and stole its ATM. Days later another stolen SUV crashed into Heroes Brewing Company in Neighborhood of the Arts.
This is an escalation of the lawlessness of stolen cars. The Rochester Police Department reports that there were 94 stolen in the last two weeks.
Brean: It always struck me, as you had an ability to protect yourself. You could make good decisions that would reduce the likelihood that you would be a victim of crime. But, when I look at video like this, there is nothing that you or any of these other businesses could have done, to protect yourselves and vulnerability is troubling.
On Monday, we received an upsetting video from one of those smash and grabs with stolen SUVs last week.
Alderman: Absolutely. And I was talking to a couple of business owners about this subject. And we’re just discussing how, until things change, until things change where the laws have to change and there has to be a level of accountability and there has to be real cause and effect, that if you do something wrong, you have to pay the price for that, I just don’t see how we can prevent this from happening.
Police tell us if they find people in a stolen car and they are under 17, the only thing they can do is give them a ticket to appear in family court. We haven’t heard about any arrests from the smash and grab at Record Archive.