Photo: boonchai wedmakawand / Moment / Getty Images
A shocking video captured the moment a car crash victim was robbed by a group of masked men on the side of the I-10 freeway in Los Angeles, California, on Tuesday (October 24) afternoon.
The California Highway Patrol said that a black Dodge Caravan intentionally crashed into a black Alfa Romeo, leaving it disabled on the side of the freeway. As the driver of the Alfa Romeo exited his car, a group of four masked men rushed toward his vehicle as smoke billowed from the engine. The driver got down on his knees and put his hands in the air as the thieves ransacked his car before fleeing in a white Chevrolet Malibu.
Initial reports said the men had guns, but police said the suspects were armed with a hammer and crowbar.
Another person can be seen behind the thieves filming. At one point, one of the robbers starts to threaten the person recording but stops and then gets in the getaway vehicle.
The man who recorded the incident spoke to KABC and said it felt like something out of a movie.
"But it was as real as it gets. Because that's how it is in Los Angeles," he said.
"It seems like they knew what he had in his car... I felt really bad for him. I thought it was over for him, but he did the right thing," the man told the news station. "He put his hands up, let them take what they took, and that's the safest way he could've done it."
A person driving by the scene of the accident also recorded the entire incident and posted the video on the Citizen app.