Thief steals car, kid jumps out to safety

ATLANTA - Atlanta Police are searching for a brazen thief who stole a car, while a ten-year-old boy was still inside.

The Zyskowski family told FOX 5, the ordeal happened shortly after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning outside their Ormewood Park home on Glenwood Place Southeast, as their father tried to load the kids into the car for school.

Pete Zyskowski said he had turned on the ignition to the family's Dodge Charger, and left his son buckled in with his older sister watching, as he ran inside quickly to grab his cup of coffee.

That's when thieves seized their opportunity, and the children spotted a car pull up, and a man jump out.

"He jumped inside the car... I unlocked the door, unbuckled, jumped out," said ten-year-old Ezra Zyskowski. His older sister, twelve-year-old Anya, was outside the vehicle and confronted the thief.

"I was pretty scared," said Anya Zyskowski.

That's when Pete Zyskowski grabbed onto the vehicle. "I look straight at him. I said, 'Are you really going to do this?' [He] slams in reverse, and off we go," he said.

Mr. Zyskowski sprained his ankle somehow and let go of the vehicle, allowing the car to drive off. He credits his kids for their quick efforts to escape and confront the thief.

"I've got some smart, quick kids," he said.

Anyone with information on the thief and any accomplices is asked to call Atlanta Police or Crime Stoppers.