There has been an epidemic of car thefts at Atlanta area gas stations mostly on the Black side of town. On Monday of this week, Fulton County Judge and former Atlanta mayoral candidate Marvin Arrington Sr. was carjacked at a gas station. While the news team was reporting on that story, they witnessed another carjacking across the street at another gas station. Now word comes that actress and hip-hop icon Queen Latifah has had her car stolen at an Atlanta gas station.
Latifah had allowed another person to drive her car and the unidentified driver went to a gas station. The driver of Latifah’s $160K, 2015 Mercedes-Benz S63 was pumping gas when a white BMW pulled up beside him. Then he heard the vehicle ignition start and saw Latifah’s vehicle speed off. Speaking with the victim, he identified the owner of the vehicle as Dana Owens, the real name of Queen Latifah. Atlanta police tracked the vehicle to an apartment complex on McDaniel Street in Southwest Atlanta. Witnesses said they spotted three males near the vehicle, as well as a white BMW and another Dodge Charger, which was reported stolen. When police examined the car, they found that the thieves had left empty bottles of Fruit punch and lemonade inside the vehicle. Police are still searching for the suspects in the car theft.
There are some common denominators in these vehicle thefts that show people are making poor and unsafe choices when patronizing gas stations. Victims are reporting that they left the keys in the ignition while fueling with their backs turned or they left the car running while they ran inside the store. That is when thieves take the opportunity to jump in the car and speed away. In one area of the city, there have been 78 incidents of vehicle thefts at one gas station alone in the past year.
