AURORA, IL (WGN/CNN) – Police say it’s a miracle that neither an 11-year-old girl nor her father were hurt when thieves carjacked their vehicle at a gas station – with the girl still inside.
Surveillance video captured the moment 11-year-old Kayla Beasanki jumped out of the backseat of her father’s moving car to get away from the carjacker who was stealing it.
Kayla and her father, Mark Beasanki, stopped at a BP gas station in Aurora, IL, to get gas Friday morning.
While the father was going to pump gas, another man jumped into the car from an accomplice vehicle and began to drive off with Kayla in the backseat.
Moments later, the girl jumped from the car. She landed in the parking lot then got to her feet as the cars drove away.
The video also showed the father on the hood of the accomplice’s vehicle, trying to stop the theft.
As the thieves escaped, father and daughter reunited and embraced.
Police sent out word to be on the lookout for the stolen car, and about an hour later, the Illinois State Police spotted it.
A 20-year-old Chicago man, Tyrelle Pulley, was arrested and charged with aggravated vehicle hijacking, aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle and fleeing and eluding police.
As police search for Pulley’s accomplice, they say not to leave the car running while you get out to pump gas and make sure you keep your keys with you.
“This is really sad to say about society today, but although he turned the vehicle off, you have to take the key with you. You have to take the opportunity away from a brazen criminal to do something like this,” said police spokesperson Dan Ferrelli.
Copyright 2018 WGN, Aurora Police Department via CNN. All rights reserved.
