A potential car sale near Toronto took a dangerous turn earlier this month when the supposed buyer backed over and injured the seller of a luxury SUV before fleeing in the stolen vehicle.
The female auto theft suspect showed up at the victim’s home near Winston Churchill and Eglinton Avenue in Mississauga, Ont., on Sept. 6 in response to an Auto Trader advertisement, Peel Regional Police said in a press release.
Police are seeking information about an auto theft suspect after the seller of a luxury SUV was run over by the alleged thief. Peel Regional Police/Handout photo
In a video posted by police Sept. 18, a woman is seen on home security system footage telling the owner she was there to look at his 2022 Porsche Cayenne.
“Hello, I’m here for the Porsche,” the suspect is heard saying in the video after the owner answered the door. “I’m waiting for my dad, so if I can take a look.”
The next segment of the video shows the suspect in the driver’s seat of the Porsche. The victim can be seen trying to open the driver’s side door and then the rear door in an attempt to get inside before moving toward the rear of the vehicle.
The video captures the driver swiftly reversing onto the street, the momentum carrying the victim along before he falls to the ground and appears to be run over by one of the back tires.
The video also shows what police are describing as an “accomplice vehicle”—a grey SUV— as well as the suspect’s original vehicle, a bright blue SUV.
Investigators are requesting the public’s help in identifying the woman in the video.
She is described as five-foot-five and approximately 120 pounds with a thin build, long brown hair, brown eyes, and glasses. She was wearing a white long-sleeve knit top, a tan calf-length skirt, and leather-strapped sandals.
Police are advising the public to “be vigilant” when selling items online, and to use Peel Regional Police Buy and Sell Exchange Zones located at each Peel Police Division.
Auto Theft on Rise
Toronto Police earlier this year said auto theft is a growing problem in Canada’s largest city, with a car being stolen roughly every 40 minutes.More than 12,000 vehicles were stolen in Toronto last year, for an average of 34 car thefts per day, Police Chief Myron Demkiw said during a March 18 press conference. He said violent carjacking and auto theft-related home invasions are also on the rise.
Auto thefts hovered at less than 4,000 stolen vehicles per year between 2014 and 2017 before increasing to nearly 5,800 by 2020, Toronto Police stats show. Thefts rose to 6,655 in 2021 and 9,848 in 2022. By 2023, thefts had surged to 12,302; more than double the rate of 2020.
Auto theft has become a serious issue not only in Toronto, but in large urban areas across Canada in recent years.
Vehicle thefts rose 50 percent in Quebec, 48.3 percent in Ontario, 34.5 percent in Atlantic Canada, and 18.35 percent in Alberta in 2022, according to a government press release
A significant portion of Canadian auto theft stems from organized crime, the government said. It described the operations as both “highly lucrative” and “highly sophisticated” with crime rings operating coast-to-coast.
