Attempted Car Jacking

From the Scott Roberts neighborhood listserv:

Carjacking attempt in Eckington: "Attempted car jacking in Eckington…occurred at approx. 11:20pm, Fri, 22 Sep. on the corner of Lincoln St NE and R. St NE. A friend of mine was waiting at the stoplight, traveling westbound on R St NE when a car turned the corner from Lincoln St NE onto R St NE traveling eastbound. The car stopped very close to hers and somebody got out from the back of the car and attempted to open her car door and started knocking on the window. My friend stepped on the gas, ran the red light (and she thinks over his foot too); thankfully they didn’t succeed and there was no cross-traffic in the intersection as she sped away.

A reminder to keep your doors locked and your options open; hopefully the newly installed CCTV camera put on that corner by MPD will be able to help track down the criminals."

As noted previously, D.C. recently installed cameras on the corner of Lincoln Road and R Street. Either the word hasn't gotten out yet, or some folks love to be on camera. Also, the incident took place 20 minutes after police foot patrols are scheduled to end. Perhaps those schedules should be randomized.

I hesitate to post about crime because some of my friends are already afraid to come to the neighborhood. The fact is that something like this could occur anywhere in D.C., and it's not like carjackings are imminent should one be out after dark. I drive a convertible with the top down whenever it's warm enough, whatever the hour. I choose not to live in fear. I had to run a red light once at the entrance to Interstate 395 (some pushy pan handlers refused to back away from my car).

What does happen too often is people driving off with vehicles left running unattended. I recently informed a delivery guy that he should not leave his vehicle with the engine running.