A man has been arrested in Brentwood after police say he climbed into a family's car with young children still in the back seat and tried to drive away. The case unfolded outside a smoke shop and was captured on video. The quick actions of the children's father and a store owner kept the situation from turning even more dangerous.
According to police, exclusive video shows a man walking up and getting into a blue Volkswagen on Tuesday outside the smoke shop on Suffolk Avenue. The vehicle belonged to a father who had stepped into the shop. When he saw the man getting into his car, he ran back outside to try to pull him out.
Police identified the man as Mustafa Atiyah and say he refused to get out of the car. The father struggled to remove him as the situation grew tense. The owner of the smoke shop, Omar Shabain, came out to help as well.
The young children were in the back seat and were crying as the men tried to intervene. The store owner said he helped get the children out of the vehicle. Their safety became the immediate focus for the two men trying to stop the car from leaving.
The shop owner described how hard it was to remove the man from the car. He said he was trying to push him out, but the man held on and pressed the gas so hard that it seemed he wanted to drive straight through. The struggle continued until help arrived.
Police say responding officers were able to get the man out of the car and place him under arrest at the scene. The intervention by the father and the store owner had kept the children from being driven off. Officers took the man into custody as the investigation began.
Atiyah faced a judge and is charged with attempted grand larceny, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a controlled substance. He is presumed innocent unless and until the case is resolved in court. Authorities have not released further details as the matter proceeds.