A woman was filmed desperately clinging to the hood of a speeding car in downtown Los Angeles after the thieves inside stole her French bulldog.
Ali Zacharias was enjoying lunch with her pup, Onyx, at the Whole Foods on Grand Avenue and 8th Street at around 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 18 when a stranger started calling for the dog, who was sitting at her feet underneath a table, she told KTLA.
The woman then grabbed the dog’s leash and began to walk away with him. Zacharias said she initially thought it was a simple mistake.
“I didn’t think that somebody was stealing my dog,” Zacharias said. “I thought it was a misunderstanding, so I said, ‘That’s my dog. Excuse me,’ and she wasn’t listening.”
The woman got into a getaway car that was waiting nearby. Zacharias tried to get inside but said the car was packed with four others inside. They pushed her out and locked the doors, she said.
Panicked, Zacharias got in front of the car while screaming for help, but “nobody came.”
“The next thing I know, the car’s driving into me and I fell onto the hood,” she told the outlet.
Witness Harrison Pessy, who captured video of the terrifying ordeal, said he was walking down the street when he heard tires screeching and a woman screaming. He then saw the white vehicle flying down the street as Zacharias held on for her life on the hood.
“It was horrifying,” Zacharias recalled. “As he started to go faster and faster I’m like, ‘I’m about to die. This is my death. Right now. I’m about to die.’”
The suspects drove several blocks with Zacharias still on top before a sharp turn violently threw her to the ground.
She reported the incident to LAPD, who have canvassed the area for surveillance footage of the robbery and getaway. Police described the vehicle as a newer white Kia Forte sedan with a missing hubcap on the driver’s front side, according to KTLA.
Onyx, a black Merle French bulldog with a spotted coat and different colored eyes, remains missing.
“They stole my child away from me, “ Zacharias said. “I’m just praying that I can get him back.”
She said she is offering a significant award for her dog’s return.
French bulldog puppies, now the most popular dog in the country, regularly fetch more than $1,000 dollars.
“If someone tried to steal my dog, I’d probably try to kill them myself,” Pessy told KTLA. “It’s devastating that someone would take someone’s animal.”
