So far this year, 800 vehicles have been stolen in Lubbock and the Lubbock Police Department wants you to take steps to keep cars where they belong.
Hayd Rice was in town visiting a friend, when they noticed his brand new Honda was missing from the driveway.
“He noticed it was gone as he was leaving for work and it’s like where’s your car it’s like, well don’t even joke about that,” Rice said.
So far his vacation is not going as planned, and he says he remembers locking his car before he went to sleep.
“I believe it was locked, I remember making the effort to lock it last night when we were getting out of the car,” Rice said. “Since it was dark, I’ve been over it in my head a couple times and I can’t swear to you I pushed the right button, I went to bed thinking it was locked.”
Police say Rice is just one of many victims, with at least 25 vehicles stolen in the Hub City per week.
“Last year alone here in Lubbock, 450 vehicles had the keys left in them,” Tiffany Taylor, LPD spokesperson said. “That’s a big number, something as simple as locking your door, I know it’s common sense but something as simple as that can prevent you from becoming a victim.”
Just last week, another brand new car, this time a Ford, was taken from a convenience store.
“He was making big payments and made the mistake of trusting other people and left his keys in the ignition to run in just for a second and somebody was waiting and his car was gone,” said Kim Lehman-Brown, the mother of a car theft victim.
But for Rice, he says he’s just thankful he’s safe.
“It’s just a thing so you know, no ones really hurt, only a couple of things that cant be replaced,” Rice said.
