Horrifying surveillance footage revealed the shocking moment a brave man attempted to stop a carjacking, but was instead dragged by the moving vehicle and lost his leg.
The shocking chain of events occurred on Thursday in Pelham Bay, a neighborhood in the eastern section of the Bronx in New York.
The video showed a black 2017 Infiniti Q50 idling outside a Chinese restaurant as an SUV pulled up beside it.
A person appeared to hop out of the SUV’s backseat and into the Infiniti’s driver’s side.
Since the car was left idling, the suspect attempted to drive away, but not until the victim flew out of the restaurant and grabbed the driver’s side of his vehicle.
As the brave man attempted to stop the car thief, the vehicle took off with him hanging off the driver’s side door.
The car then crashed, and witnesses said the man was left on the street covered in blood.
Police reportedly believe that the suspect purposefully crashed the vehicle. The car was abandoned by the carjacker and found less than half a mile away from the scene.
Shocking surveillance camera footage revealed the victim running toward his car in a desperate attempt to stop the carjacking
The carjacking occurred in the Pelham Bay neighborhood of the Bronx in New York on Thursday
Footage revealed the victim holding onto the driver’s side door as the carjacker dragged him through the residential neighborhood
‘The guy’s leg was nearly severed, looked really in bad shape, and the guy had some kind of head injury – just didn’t look good like the guy was going to make it,’ Gonzalo Corridori, a medical center employee, told local New York outlet, News 12.
Police said the car belonged to the victim, and officials told News 12 that his leg was later amputated at the hospital.
The incident left the community of Pelham Bay in shock, with many saying the neighborhood typically isn’t associated with crime.
Corridori said the crime was ‘shocking,’ attesting that the neighborhood is a ‘pretty good area.’
Scott Kilgore, a resident on the block of the crime scene, told News 12 that in the five years he’s lived in the area, he’s never heard of a similar case.
Jack Anello, whose family owned the restaurant near the carjacking, said that Pelham Bay is a ‘safe’ and ‘friendly’ area where ‘Everybody knows each other.’
Anello witnessed the shocking sequence of events and said the victim was just about to leave the restaurant when he realized his car was being stolen outside.
Angel Rojas told the outlet that the victim’s father attested that his injuries were severe.
The victim later had his car amputated, and his vehicle was found less than a half mile away. The carjacker fled the scene after crashing the car, leaving the victim bloody on the streets
The victim remains in critical condition with head trauma, and the suspect remains at large. The NYPD is actively investigating
Residents of the Bronx told local news that the incident was shocking, as Pelham Bay is known as a friendly and safe neighborhood
‘You come out your car, you leave your car, you don’t expect somebody to just go in and just take it like that,’ he added.
Bronx residents said crime has increased in the area, with Corridori attesting that his car was recently almost carjacked in the same neighborhood.
Another resident told the New York Daily News that there have been multiple attempted car robberies in the last year that he was aware of.
The victim’s identity hasn’t been released, but he is 32 years old and works as a baggage handler at John F. Kennedy International Airport, local ABC affiliate WABC reported.
He also suffered head trauma from the horrific dragging and remains in critical condition at a Bronx hospital. Police haven’t yet named a suspect, and the investigation remains ongoing.
DailyMail.com reached out to the NYPD for an update on the case but didn’t immediately hear back.