A homeowner in New York City laid a successful trap for a porch pirate, using a fake package to set a trap and then, when he caught the suspected thief, confronted and held him with a baseball bat. The homeowner said he was “done” with thieves after having packages stolen time and time again when left on his porch by UPS and FedEx.
Package theft, often called “porch piracy,” is a major problem in areas with crime, as carrier services often leave packages on the porch and thieves can swipe them without much issue if no one is at home or brave enough to confront them. New York City has such a problem with this form of them that, according to the NYC Department of Transportation, around 90,000 packages are stolen every single day.
Carlos Mejia, a homeowner in Queens, was one New Yorker who both suffered from the depredations of porch pirates and was sick and tired of having his packages stolen off of his porch after they were left there by carriers. So, he set a trap for the thief, letting a decoy box sit on his porch until a thief approached and tried to swipe it.
Video from Mejia’s home security system shows what happened next. The porch pirate stepped through the gate and up the front steps of Mejia’s home, then grabbed a box off the porch and tried to tuck it away in his backpack to make off with it. That’s when Mejia burst out of the front door, baseball bat in hand, and confronted the thief.
Charging the porch pirate like a bull, Mejia threateningly places the bat on his shoulder like a slugger readying to swing for the fences as the startled thief waves his hands in surrender and claims to have been trying to help out by safekeeping the package, saying, “Oh, s—, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, I just didn’t want nobody to take him, bro.” Mejia, not buying it for obvious reasons, repeatedly fires back, “What do you got in there?”
The attempted thief, one whom Fox News Digital reports was caught on other security tapes swiping packages, stammered while obviously quite scared that Mejia could have the belongings in the backpack. Mejia, not showing any interest, fires back, “I don’t give a f—.” He then ordered the suspected thief “Get on your knees.” Police eventually arrived and dealt with the suspected thief.
Watch the incident here:
According to the Chamber of Commerce, which published a study on the porch piracy issue, “More than one-quarter of consumers (26%) have had a package stolen, and most porch pirate incidents occurred at single-unit residential homes (49%) rather than an apartment or condominium (42%).” That study continued, “The average value of a stolen package was $81.91, according to respondents.”
It then noted “Among package theft victims, 22% had a doorbell camera when the theft occurred and 25% never received a refund for the stolen item(s)” and “38% believe that doorbell cameras do not deter package thieves.” It did provide a glimmer of hope as well, claiming, “More than one-third (36%) of respondents say advancements in AI technology will help prevent future package theft.”
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