A family-owned car dealership in east London, Ont., says it’s thankful one of its sales representatives is alive after the business fell victim to a dangerous theft last week.
On Sunday, Sport Motors shared compiled surveillance footage in a Facebook post that shows an incident the dealership says took place on March 3.
According to the Facebook post, a man came into Sport Motors around 5:45 p.m. “inquiring about a 2018 BMW M4.”
The sales representative attending to the customer turned on the car after the customer requested to hear the engine running. Once the customer entered the car, he told the sales rep that he had to make a phone call and was left alone inside the vehicle, according to Sport Motors.
“He was given the privacy to call, our sales rep stood close by in front of the vehicle,” said Sport Motors.
“The suspect floors the vehicle towards the sales rep hitting him falling on the hood and kept accelerating, the sales rep had been scared for his life hanging on.”
In the video posted to Facebook, the car can be seen driving off with a sales representative clinging to the hood as it speeds up shortly after.
Sport Motors says the BMW then turned onto Oxford Street East with the sales representative still clinging to the hood.
“He ran red lights, drove onto oncoming traffic… going at least 100 km/h, swerved left and right aggressively to throw (the sales representative) off with no regards for his life, people or the law,” said Sport Motors.
Later in the video, the sales representative can be seen falling off the hood of the BMW as the car drives away. Most traffic in the street slows down soon after, with the exception of a silver car that swipes the man as he tries to limp off the road.
“A Silver Audi A4 (the customer) came with also drove recklessly and hit the sales man after trying to pass the cars through the bus lane,” Sport Motors added.
“It is unfortunate that thieves nowadays are capable of such action.”
Sport Motors operations manager Mustafa Al-Kaissy is the older brother of Moe Al-Kaissy, the sales representative seen clinging to the hood of the car in the video.
“He’s traumatized and he’s in pain and he’s limping … I think this is just going to stay with him for the rest of his life to be honest,” said Mustafa of his younger brother’s condition.
“He’s got a lot of bruising, but yeah, he’s alive and luckily, no bones are broken with Moe.”
Mustafa said a GPS tracker inside the BMW located the vehicle in North York hours later.
The vehicle is push-to-start and does not require a key to keep operating once when the engine is running. Mustafa said the keys were still in his younger brother’s pocket when the car drove off.
“These thieves drove all the way from here to the North York, the GTA-area, without stopping because if they stopped anywhere and shut off that car, it just wouldn’t have turned on again,” Mustafa said.
“It’s not like they went to a parking lot or a garage where they could’ve hid for a bit. It was just one-time during broad daylight from here to the GTA … I don’t know how they got away with it.”
Investigators share suspect description
London police provided more information related to the incident in an update shared on Monday.
Police describe the vehicle stolen from Sport Motors as a 2018 Black BMW M4 with red interior leather and a dealer licence plate that reads “084DRX.”
The silver Audi seen swiping Moe in the video is described as having dark tinted windows, a sunroof and silver rims. Both vehicles were last seen in London turning southbound onto Highbury Avenue, according to police.
Police also provided a description of one suspect in the incident.
Officers say he is a dark-skinned man with a thin build who stands at about five feet eight inches and weighs about 140 lbs. The man is described as having black puffy hair, a black beard and wearing a black mask and a navy blue suit with a dotted white dress shirt.
Police say they are seeking dash-cam footage from anyone who may have been near 1080 Oxford St. E. around 5:40 p.m. on March 3.
Anyone with relevant information is asked to contact investigators at (519) 661-5670 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
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