He went from being locked in his car to being locked in jail.
A dim-witted car thief in Florida has asked a Corvette owner for help after breaking into the luxury sports car and locking himself inside.
Ravesh Rabindranath, 33, was arrested on suspicion of theft in a Miami Beach parking lot on Monday morning after he was returning from breakfast to his car when the car's owner, Julio Solano, happened upon the thief in the driver's seat. Local 10 reports.
Solano said when he approached the car, he was startled to see a head “popping out” of the driver's seat and began recording.
“Brother, this is not your car, this is my car,” Solano can be heard telling Rabindranath, who then began pleading with him to let him out of the Corvette.
“Can I go outside?” the thief brazenly asks after the failed carjacking.
“No, you can't go outside. I'll call the police,” Solano told him sternly.
“For what purpose?” asked Rabindranath in shock.
“For what?” Solano replies.
Ravindranath was then ordered out of his sports car by Miami Beach police officers, who asked him to lie on the ground and handcuffed him.
It is still unclear how Rabindranath got into Solano's vehicle, but he believes the vehicle's security system prevented the suspect from starting or exiting the vehicle.
“The electrical components of the car don't work without the key. Luckily he didn't know about the manual door locks under the seats,” Solano told Local 10.
Solano added that the car had “manual door handles under the seats” that would have helped the carjackers escape.
“We're lucky he didn't know,” the Corvette owner said.
Investigators told Local 10 that Solano alerted luxury car rental company Premier Auto Miami 1, which keeps similar vehicles in its garage, about the incident.
“Just be careful. When you're getting in and out of your car, be vigilant and be aware of your surroundings,” Solano said.
According to records obtained by the media, Ravindranath, a New York native, has no criminal history or outstanding arrest warrants in the local area.
He has been charged with theft of an unattended vehicle and is currently being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $2,500 bail.
