Shocking video captured the moment a car salesman was struck by a stolen vehicle and clung to the hood as a thief sped away from a dealership in Canada.
The terrifying ordeal unfolded at the Sport Motors Auto Sales lot in London, Ontario, on March 3 after two men asked 23-year-old salesman Moe Al-Kaissy to show them a used BMW.
Al-Kaissy used the car’s remote starter key to turn on the engine while standing a few feet away when one of the prospective customers went inside to make a phone call and the other jumped into the driver’s seat and sped off.
The car plowed into the salesman, knocking him onto the hood. He then held onto the windshield for several minutes as the car traveled over half a mile down London’s busy Oxford Street.
‘[The thief] kept swerving the car, left and right, trying to get him off,’ Al-Kaissy’s brother Mustafa, who owns the dealership, told the London Free Press.
‘He was trying to look around (Moe) to see where he’s going. How is that possible? It’s a human on the hood.’
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Shocking video captured the moment car salesman Moe Al-Kaissy was struck by a stolen vehicle and clung to the hood as a thief sped away from a dealership in Canada
The terrifying ordeal unfolded at the Sport Motors Auto Sales lot in London, Ontario, on March 3 after two men asked Al-Kaissy (right) to show them a used BMW. Al-Kaissy used the car’s remote starter key to turn on the engine while standing a few feet away when one of the men (left) jumped into the driver’s seat and sped off
The man who drove off in the stolen BMW is seen above in surveillance footage
The harrowing journey was captured in surveillance footage released by the dealership over the weekend.
Al-Kaissy finally got an opportunity to get off the hood when it slowed to turn onto Highbury Avenue, Mustafa told CBC News.
‘He started to fall, and the second he fell, you can see, he’s still in shock, he gets up, weaving between cars trying to get them to stop,’ he said.
The other man who went to check out the BMW, who had arrived at the dealership in an Audi, is seen trailing behind the stolen car and almost hits Al-Kaissy again.
‘Moe is in shock. The last thing you expect when you’re showing a car is someone running you over,’ Mustafa said. ‘He was hanging on for his life. He was scared for his life.’
Al-Kaissy told CBC News: ‘Watching [the footage], I just think: “This could have gone wrong so many different ways, a million different ways.”
‘I can remember everything that happened, and I know in that moment, it was fight or flight. It was hang on to the car or fall off and probably die.’
The car plowed into Al-Kaissy, knocking him onto the hood
Al-Kaissy then held onto the windshield for several minutes as the car traveled over half a mile down London’s busy Oxford Street
Al-Kaissy finally got an opportunity to get off the hood when the car it slowed down for a turn
‘He started to fall, and the second he fell, you can see, he’s still in shock, he gets up, weaving between cars trying to get them to stop,’ Al-Kaissy’s brother Mustafa, who owns the dealership, told CBC News
Al-Kaissy was left with an injured knee and bloodies toes after his feet were dragged alongside the vehicle.
The family traced the stolen car – a black 2018 BMW M4 with red leather interior and dealer plate 084DRX – to North York, but the thieves still haven’t been caught.
The man who drove the BMW is described as being about 5’8″ with puffy black hair, a black beard and a thin build. He was wearing a black face mask, a navy blue suit and a white polka-dotted dress shirt at the time of the theft.
Mustafa said the thief ‘clearly has no regard for human life or anything around him’.
‘It’s mind boggling,’ he said. ‘We’re speechless. For this to happen in broad daylight on our city streets, why do these guys think it’s okay to do this midday? Do they have no regard for anything or anyone?’
Al-Kaissy said he hopes sharing his experience will warn other car salesmen to be cautious.
‘Honestly, it’s not about the car. It’s the fact that I’m here and I’m very thankful for that,’ he said.
‘I don’t want this happening to somebody else. We’re just trying to prevent the situation from happening to other dealerships, to the other salesman. We want to spread awareness.’
Al-Kaissy (pictured) was left with an injured knee and bloodies toes after his feet were dragged alongside the vehicle