This is the moment a would-be robber clung to the side of a speeding vehicle after he tried to steal the driver’s cellphone in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Wednesday night.
The dramatic video showed the male suspect hanging from the side of the car moments after he tried to mug the motorist at an intersection in the western Rio neighborhood of Recreio dos Bandeirantes, witnesses told authorities.
The perp managed to keep his feet from making contact with the ground as the driver accelerated down Salvador Allende Avenue.
At one point, the man placed his left foot between the side-view mirror and the edge of the door’s window while the right foot slightly made contact with the road pavement.
A man was filmed holding on to the side of a speeding vehicle moments after he allegedly attempted to steal the driver’s cell phone at a red light in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday night
The would-be robber had to place his left foot between the side-view mirror and the end of the door’s window as the motorist sped down a Rio de Janeiro street during a cell phone robbery attempt. Authorities canvassed the area, but were unable to find the driver or suspect
It then appeared that the suspect is about to fall to the ground as the video comes to an end.
The Rio de Janeiro Military Police received a call and dispatched a unit to the neighborhood, but the driver and suspect were not located.
‘It is important to note that the driver of the vehicle did not contact the battalion, although he appeared to have slowed down at the entrance to the unit,’ the Military Police said in a statement. ‘There was no record of any call being made.’
The robbery attempt comes after a teenager struck by a bus and died after he stole a 71-year-old man’s cell phone in São Paulo last Friday.
The 17-year-old boy was captured on a security camera approaching elderly man and snatching the cell phone while he was talking on it.
The teen then ran across the street, but was not aware that the bus was nearing the intersection when he was run over.
The boy was able to crawl from under the bus, according to witnesses, and was rushed in an ambulance to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
According to the 2024 annual Brazilian Public Security Yearbook, 1 million cell phones were stolen or robbed in the South American nation in 2023, an average of one mobile device every 33 seconds.
