An 11-year-old boy's text messages were key to locating him when a man stole his father's car with him inside.
"Dad, please come get me... this guy took your car," wrote Daniel Pérez after a stranger entered the van in which he was waiting for his father in New York.
[They record how a driver runs over a Latina mother to death after arguing over a parking space in Florida]
David Pérez had left his son in the car this Sunday while he went to make a quick purchase at a store.
The vehicle had the keys inside and was running, because Pérez did not expect to be late.
A video published by the New York City police shows the moment in which the stranger got into the car before eight in the afternoon and started with the minor inside, sitting in the front seat.
The suspect entered Perez's car while he was shopping.
NYPD
Pérez had connected his iPhone cell phone with his son's and I can thus follow the criminal's trajectory.
In addition, the boy communicated with him: "He sent me a message saying: 'Dad, help!' That made me feel like it was real," the father told local station WABC.
[A mother takes a photo of her murderer minutes before being murdered in Chiapas]
While the man was trying to find the whereabouts of his son, the thief was driving at high speed and even crashed twice.
About 20 minutes later, the thief left the minor in a corner;
The boy immediately made a video call to his father, who managed to locate him.
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The police were able to trace the whereabouts of the car and found it wrecked, but they are still looking for the suspect.
Daniel Pérez assured that he is still "traumatized" and his father explains that this was a lesson to never leave his children alone in the car and to take precautions.
"Get your son a phone if he doesn't have one and always take out the car key," he recommended.
