VIDEO: Two accused of stealing car from man in French Quarter

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - An elderly man in the French Quarter watches as his car is stolen right in front of him. The man says it happened in a matter of seconds, in broad daylight, as he moved a trash can out of his way.

Thursday afternoon, home surveillance cameras captured an elderly man, trying to run after his car, after it was stolen right in front of his home.

“My wife was at her brother’s house just a few blocks from here so I put her purse in the car and the computer, moved the car a few feet then I realized I had to move the trash can so I simply got out to move the trash can and that quickly, somebody was in the car,” the victim said.

One of the suspects took off in the Hyundai, toward Rampart. The other, ran on the sidewalk alongside the car, until the driver picked him up.

Neighbor Kim Lynn comments, “Quite frankly, I’m terrified, I’m not sure I want to even stay in New Orleans to be honest.”

Lynn says she’s seen far too much crime near this intersection of Ursulines and Burgundy.

“We do have the vehicles that come through, the police vehicles that come through but honestly I don’t know that they’re doing that much good to stop this kind of thing from happening,” Lynn said.

Just a few hours after the car theft, the victim’s wife’s purse did show back up to their home on Ursulines, thanks to a good samaritan

“A couple found it on the corner of Mirabeau and Pratt,” the victim stated.

He continues, “They had the driver’s license, a few credit cards were still in it so they brought it over to us.”

A kind gesture, helping the victim and his wife as they now deal with the headache that far too many people in New Orleans have been through.

“I’m angry, I’m disappointed that America has created these kids that do this violence and this theft,” the victim said.

While police look for the victim’s 2020 white Hyundai Kona, they’re asking anyone with information on the identities of the two people in the surveillance video, to call them.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.

Copyright 2023 WVUE. All rights reserved.