Thief takes car on dangerous joyride after finding it unattended, unlocked and running in Vancouver

A Vancouver man says he's learned a valuable lesson after someone stole his car when he momentarily left it running and unlocked.

A Vancouver man says he’s learned a valuable lesson after someone stole his car when he momentarily left it unattended and unlocked with the engine running.

It happened on Abbott Street near Pender Street on Monday afternoon, when Michael Aresta parked and ducked into a store.

“It was very quick, right? Just a minute and a half. It’s a lesson learned for sure, right? A few seconds, a minute, it’s just not worth it, right? It could happen anywhere,” Aresta told CTV News.

His car is equipped with a dash cam and a rear-facing camera.

Video footage shows him on foot chasing his own car down Abbott for two blocks before he actually caught up to it near Expo Boulevard.

“Here’s exactly when I catch up to her here. I bang on the window. She speeds off. As you can see here, just no regard,” he said, as he pointed at a computer monitor showing the video.

That’s when the thief began to drive erratically.

She ran multiple red lights, narrowly missing pedestrians and cyclists.

She swerved around another car to enter a bike lane – knocking down plastic barriers at either end before turning onto Main Street and speeding away.

At one point, while exiting a gas station, the thief drove on the wrong side of the road, dodging oncoming traffic before jumping the median and returning to the right side of the road.

“I’ve had a chance to look at a video that is apparently related to this theft,” said Vancouver police spokesperson Const. Jason Doucette. “We’re still investigating at this point, but the driving was atrocious. It was dangerous. It was selfish. Needless to say, many people could have been hurt.”

At 10 p.m. that evening, a South Vancouver resident called police to say an unoccupied vehicle had been parked in front of their home with the engine running for two hours.

Attending police were able to confirm it was Aresta’s stolen Kia Sol.

According to Aresta, the woman who stole his car was briefly captured by his dash cam as she approached.

Doucette confirms police have identified a person of interest.

“And now, we’re slowing things down. Everyone’s safe. We’re trying to work backwards to ensure that we have the best evidence to give to Crown to support hopefully upcoming charges,” he said.

Aresta is grateful nothing tragic happened.

“I watched that footage back and I was so surprised that nobody was hurt,” he said about the dangerous joyride.