Video: Woman jumps onto moving car, after thieves steal her dog
LOS ANGELES - A Southern California woman recounted the harrowing moment when thieves stole her beloved dog, prompting her to jump on the hood of a car in an attempt to thwart the theft.
A bystander recorded video of Ali Zacarias clinging to the hood of a car as it sped down a street in downtown Los Angeles on Jan. 18.
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Zacarias said her French Bulldog, named Onyx, was under a lunch table at a Whole Foods supermarket when thieves grabbed the dog.
Onyx’s owner sprang into action and ran after the thieves, who got into their car to drive away. She tried to stop them, and that's when she ended up on the hood of the car.
"It’s hard to have him ripped away from you," Zacarias explained, adding, "I wasn’t willing to just let him go. My last resort was to stand in front of the car and tell them not to go. And they drove right into me, and it pushed me onto the hood and I just wasn't going to leave the car at that point and I held on, and they took off."
She held on tightly to the hood of the Kia Forte. She said three women and a man were inside the vehicle.
The dog owner said she eventually rolled off the car when the driver swerved.
Zacarias suffered minor scrapes and scratches, and a lot of heartache over her lost dog.
She said she’s grateful that someone got video of the incident of her trying to save her dog, because the video has now gone viral, and she hoped all the attention would help bring Onyx back home.
She’s offering a reward, saying she just wants her dog safely returned. And the owner had a message and plea to those who stole her sweet and loving pet.
"Please just sell him back to us at this point, like we don't care about anything except getting him back," Zacarias said. "So we're not looking to press charges, all we're looking to do is recover, you know our baby."
Ali Zacarias's dog, Onyx, was stolen on Jan. 18, 2024 in Los Angeles. Video showed the owner on the hood of the thieves' car as she tried to thwart the theft.