A man in Bethesda, Maryland, was attacked by a group of carjackers and nearly lost his vehicle, though the sort of transmission technology the car uses stopped the would-be carjackers from managing to make off with the vehicle.
That occurred in late November, when a man was attempting to drive his Porsche around the town of Bethesda shortly before midnight. Then, the pack of attempted carjackers sprung their trap and attempted to steal the vehicle, pistol-whipping the Porsche owner and driver in the process.
A dashcam video of the incident shows the car in which the attempted carjackers arrived, a red SUV, pull up alongside the Porsche. Then, a window rolls down, and a suspect points a firearm toward the Porsche, presumably demanding the driver not move. Three men then emerged from the SUV and pistol-whipped the Porsche driver.
Though that horrific blow to the head put the driver out of commission, the would-be carjackers found themselves foiled by the car itself: used to automatic transmissions, they realized they were unable to make off in the car because the Porsche used a stick shift rather than an automatic gear shift.
As the criminals attempted to figure out the Porsche, the man whom they pistol-whipped retreated back into the business in front of which the attempted carjacking occurred. The attempted carjackers then escaped in another vehicle, leaving the Porsche behind, and the police soon showed up. The victim, who is recovering from his injuries, told police that shots were fired during the altercation, but police were not able to find any shell casings.
The victim of the attempted carjacking is Myo Maung. Mr. Maung owns Zao Stamina Ramen, the restaurant off Wisconsin Avenue in Downtown Bethesda in front of which the attempted carjacking occurred and into which he fled as the criminals unsuccesfully attempted to figure out the manual transmission of the Porsche.
He commented on the incident and described the deteriorating safety environment in Bethesda, saying, “I got shocked, excited. Now, I’m okay. Guys stealing, the hijacking, it’s too much – we are not safe, I feel like. That’s why, people, I want to say ‘just, be careful.’”
Montgomery County Police Department’s Major Crimes Division, Captain Sean Gagan, told FOX 5, “We are focusing very heavily on the locations that border the Washington D.C. and Prince George’s County line by placing additional resources with our uniform patrol and our plain clothes assets down in those areas to try and address the growing number of vehicles that we’ve seen either carjacked or that have been stolen.”
Continuing, Captain Gagan said, “I really, seriously encourage people to stay aware of their surroundings at all times. A lot of times just driving around, we see people on their phones. And this is one of those things our criminals are looking for as well.”
Carjackings are a large problem in the Baltimore area. One resident, commenting on the painfully bad situation, said, “There has to be a consequence. We have to do something for the kids, so they don’t have to do this joy-riding of someone else’s car. It’s a crying shame.”
