LORAIN, Ohio — A 46-year-old man was arrested on Wednesday after he police said he stole a car from a Lorain home, smashed it into a dumpster and crashed it into a rocky shoreline of Lake Erie.
According to the Lorain Police Department, a resident called around 7 a.m. to report his car stolen.
“He was warming the car up. As he was getting out of the car, somebody walked into his garage. He confronted that person. They jumped into the car, took the car. He had had no prior interactions with this person,” said Lorain Police Capt. Jacob Morris.
Morris said a short time later, officers received additional calls from bystanders at an apartment building in the 1200 block of East Erie Avenue. They reported a car matching the stolen vehicle description had careened into the dumpster there and then crashed into the rocks near the shore.
Police said the driver had bailed before letting the car roll towards the lake.
Neighbor Diane Gould told News 5 her dogs alerted her about the trouble happening in her apartment parking lot.
“They were going crazy,” she said.
She said a stranger then pounded on her door and asked to be let inside.
“I went to open the door to find out who it was," she said. "And I was fighting with the lock on the screen and he was like, ‘Can I come in and hide?’ And I’m like, ‘For what?’ He’s like, ‘I’m hiding from the police.’”
Gould estimated that officers arrived minutes later and swarmed the parking lot. She said she directed them to the man hiding inside her apartment.
“Luckily I had him right there where they could get him,” she said.
Police said the Lorain man, later identified as the suspected thief, was arrested without incident.
He was taken to a nearby hospital as a precaution and will be taken to jail on breaking and entering, grand theft auto and reckless operation charges.
Morris said it's not uncommon for thieves to target unattended cars left to warm up in the winter. But he said this was not the typical seasonal car theft.
“The vicitim was with the car. He wasn’t necessarily seated inside the car, but when the car’s inside your garage and you’re warming up your car – I think he was actually warming it up for a family member – it’s about as responsible as you can be,” he said.
He said Lorain Police detectives and the department's traffic bureau are still investigating the case and more charges are possible.
