An Atlanta city council member and mayoral candidate who has supported the “defund the police” movement had his car stolen by kids in broad daylight.
From Fox News:
Councilman Antonio Brown was attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony at an event in northeast Atlanta around noon when at least four kids jumped into his car and took off, FOX 5 of Atlanta reported.
“You don’t immediately think, ‘Oh, these kids are going to steal my car,’” Brown said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The incident happened amid a backdrop of rising crime in the city, a fact that has not stopped Brown from running for mayor on promises of “reimagining public safety.” Just last year, Brown voted to withhold $73 million from the budget of the Atlanta Police Department, though the measure was narrowly defeated.
Brown was able to see the rise in the city’s crime firsthand, when the group of kids jumped in his vehicle after he exited and failed to realize he had engaged his keyless push-to-start ignition:
“One kid was in the driver’s seat. Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas,” Brown said.
Brown added that he held on to the car in an attempt to stop them and was dragged about a block down the road before letting go.
“As he started to speed up, and I knew that if I had not let go, I knew I probably could have killed myself because he was going so fast, I would have started to tumble. And I would have hurt him,” the councilman said.
While Atlanta police are investigating the incident, Brown said he does not fan to file charges because the kids were only acting out of desperation due to the poverty in the city.
The incident also comes as Brown is under federal indictment on multiple fraud charges, with prosecutors alleging the councilman lied about his income in order to obtain loans and credit cards to use on personal purchased.
All of the alleged crimes occurred before he became a member of the council in 2019.
Don’t miss The Dan Bongino Show
