Chicago Man Finds Dog Trapped in Stolen Vehicle in West Town – NBC Chicago

A local pet owner said he was thrilled to have his 10-year-old dog, Pixel, back after a scary incident in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood.

“When I saw that car drive away, I thought of her sitting in the back seat all alone, completely helpless,” Cumber said. “My heart sank, you know?”

Cumber had just picked up his second dog, Roxanne, from a dog daycare and was returning to his car when he noticed two men approaching his vehicle near Washtenaw and North avenues.

“One guy ran away and the other guy jumped in the driver’s seat, hit the locks and sped off. It all happened so fast,” he said.

Surveillance video from Canine Crews captured the theft around 5:30 p.m. Thursday night.

“I ran to the car, grabbed the handle, it was locked. I banged on the window, used some choice words,” Cumber said. “I said, ‘Hey, get that bad word off my car.’ I just banged on the window. That’s about all I remember.”

Video shows Cumber running inside the dog daycare where he called for help and alerted his wife, Amy. The couple had an Apple AirTag in their vehicle and saw the car had stopped at Humboldt Park.

“I was like, walking aimlessly through Humboldt Park, sobbing, asking people if they had seen our dog and I was like, this is useless, what do I do,” Amy said.

Amy posted to two neighborhood Facebook groups, asking if anyone had seen Pixel, and within minutes she received a response about Pixel’s whereabouts.

“I was connected to the Humboldt Park community page and a post that someone had made about Pixel and her found dog, and they were looking for the owner, and so I was connected to the person who found our dog,” she explained.

Amy couldn’t believe the outpouring of support.

“Hundreds of people have commented, logged in, liked, upvoted, and then just to have our friends and neighbors support us, we’re so grateful for all of that,” she said.

Garrett admitted to making the mistake of leaving his car unlocked and running.

Although Chicago police could not go into details about the case, the couple told NBC Chicago that they recovered their car and police eventually made an arrest.

“They followed them to a certain point, the guys stopped, got out of the car and the police chased them on foot,” he said. “They ended up catching three people.”

Garrett and his wife said they couldn’t thank the police and their community enough for their final assistance.

“Despite everything, we feel very lucky,” Amy said. “We got out of this unharmed, we’re safe, Pixel’s home, our car’s back, everything’s going to be okay.”