Indy car salesman, an Army vet, beaten, robbed and carjacked during test drive
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is looking for a man who choked a car salesman, who is an Army veteran, and pushed that man out of a car while out on a test drive.
A typical day turned into near tragedy when a car salesman at K&A Auto Sales was carjacked by a man who claimed he was interested in buying a car.
In 20 years, no one at K&A Auto Sales remembers a day quite Oct. 24: a potential customer in the passenger seat jumping a salesman on a test drive.
“He grabbed his hands and forced them up like this and held his hands with one hand and choked him with the other and emptied out all of his pockets,” said Candace Collins, a manager at the store who heard what happened first-hand from her employee. “After he got done emptying out all of his pockets he opened up the driver door and pushed him out.”
The salesman was left in the middle of Vermont Street as the suspect drove off.
“His neck was real red and tore up from the guy choking him,” recalled Collins.
Fortunately, the salesman, who would not go on camera, recovered and is back at work. IMPD also recovered the car a short time later.
The test drive only lasts a couple minutes and employees say they’re shaken up by the possibility of a test drive turning into a violent robbery.
That carjacker remains at large.
“If it happened to my 58-year-old employee, if he’s going to rob an elderly man like that, who knows who else he can rob,” said Collins.
K&A Auto Sales increased its security measures after the carjacking. The test driving route now only takes place on big streets so more people can be watching at all times.
The carjacking happened on a side street.
