Attempted Car Thefts Thwarted by Watchful Dearborn Residents

Multiple attempted and actual car thefts were reported within close vicinity to one another Monday, according to Dearborn police reports.

In two cases, residents witnessed the acts and scared away the would-be thieves.

Around 12:30 a.m., a resident of the 7700 block of Manor saw suspicious people standing near his neighbor's Dodge Stratus, which was parked on Morross between Miller and Manor. The man looked out his window and saw that two men were also in the front seats of the car. Once they saw that they were being watched, all four men ran from the scene.

The men were described as black males—two between the ages of 16-18 and wearing all black; and two between the ages of 18-22, one wearing all black and the other wearing black pants and a grey sweatshirt with black sleeves.

Police spoke with the owner of the car over the phone, who was out of town at the time, but said she had both keys. Officers observed that the steering column and ignition had been tampered with.

Around an hour later, a resident of the 7800 block of Hartwell went onto his porch to smoke a cigarette and witnessed several people inside of his mother's Dodge Caravan. The suspects ran south on Hartwell and west on Morross when they saw the him. He was not able to give a detailed description of the suspects.

Police noted that the steering column had been detached, but the ignition was in tact.

In the third incident, a car was reported stolen on the 7600 block of Ternes.

The Pontiac Bonneville belonging to a resident was left running while parked on the street. When the owner came out of his house to leave, the car was gone.

A neighbor told police that he had witnessed two men drive up in a 2004 white Yukon Denali with tinted windows. A passenger got out of the SUV, into the Pontiac, and both vehicles drove off north toward Tireman Avenue.

Police broadcast a report for the stolen car, but it could not be located.