ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Atlanta police are thanking an iPad for helping them recover a stolen vehicle.
Just before 10 p.m. on Sept. 5, Atlanta police responded to 296 Northside Drive SW after receiving a call about a stolen car with a child inside.
They didn’t find the car or the child at the scene, but police said another child there told them that an iPad in the car was pinging a location less than a half-mile away.
Police said they soon found the car in a grassy field near 23 Larkin Pl. with the child locked inside. Police retrieved the child after breaking the car’s windows. The child was unharmed. Police said the driver then told them she had left the car running while going to the gas station to get some things for her child. Then, someone drove off with the car with the baby inside.
APD Officers Recover a Stolen Vehicle with a Child InsideAPD Officers Recover a Stolen Vehicle with a Child Inside
On September 5th, 2023, at approximately 9:52PM, officers responded to the Texaco gas station located at 296 Northside Drive SW in reference to a stolen vehicle with a child inside.
While officers were coordinating an effort to search for both the child and the vehicle, the victim's other child who was on scene notified the responding officer that there was an iPad inside of the vehicle and that the iPad was tracking to a location 0.4 miles away. The responding officer relayed that information to her fellow officers who were ultimately able to locate the victim's vehicle in an open field nearby.
The suspect was no longer inside of the vehicle however, the victim's child was. Because the vehicle was locked and officers could not locate a key to the vehicle, they utilized the window breaking tool on their batons. The driver window was shattered and the child (who was in the back seat on the passenger side) was taken out of the vehicle. Thankfully, the child was unharmed and appeared to be in good physical health. Officers reunited the child with her family and the family kindly thanked the officers for their help.
The Atlanta Police Department would like to remind citizens to remain vigilant against auto thefts by making sure that your vehicle is turned off, locked, and valuables are removed when it is not in use.
Posted by City of Atlanta Police Department on Wednesday, September 20, 2023
The child was reunited with their family, police said.
“The Atlanta Police Department would like to remind citizens to remain vigilant against auto thefts by making sure that your vehicle is turned off, locked, and valuables are removed when it is not in use,” police said in a Facebook post.
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