Florida Citizen Intervenes In Starbucks Drive Through Carjacking

Crime has been spinning out of control in many US cities for years now with rates continuing to climb. People can point all the fingers they want over what’s driving it and those discussions are worth having, but we’re noticing something else on the rise: more Good Samaritans are stepping up to put a stop to violent crime.

Carjackers in Tennessee threaten to shoot toddler.

In this instance, a suspect was fleeing from police, caused a multiple-car accident, then tried to carjack a lady in her Jeep Grand Cherokee in a Starbucks drive through. But this incident, which went down in Ocala, Florida on October 24, didn’t end with police shooting the guy as he drove away or another chase with the Jeep getting destroyed. Instead, the guy in line behind the woman getting carjacked jumped into action.

Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was having the desire to help a woman in need, or maybe the guy was motivated by a desire to stop rampant crime from spreading through his community like a disease. Whatever the reason, this guy ran up to the Grand Cherokee, tried pulling the carjacker out, then chased the suspect down, tackled the guy, and held him until police caught up.

We’re not saying everyone needs to or should do this, but we’re starting to see more people step up and stop carjackers while they’re in the middle of committing the crime. Had this guy not intervened, there’s no telling what would’ve happened to the victim or if the suspect would’ve used the Jeep to possibly kill someone in a crash.

It’s also worth noting, even though you can’t see it in the video, that another bystander grabbed this suspect as he fled the car accident where multiple people were hurt. While the suspect broke free, this did slow him down, contributing to his capture.

Also, the suspect, 39-year-old Michael Prouty, stole the first car during a home invasion robbery. He has quite the criminal history and was out on bond bending several felony charges. We think he might be facing a few more. Hopefully bond will be denied this time.