MIAMI \u2014 A criminal used a Waymo as his apparent getaway car in the theft of an expensive camera over the weekend.<\/p>\n
It happened on Sunday afternoon along North Miami Avenue, near Fifth Street, in downtown Miami \u2015 and it was all caught on surveillance camera. <\/p>\n
Local 10 News spoke to the victim, Aiden Chappell, who said he met a man who claimed wanted to buy his $4,000 Sony video camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was meeting this guy off of Facebook Marketplace, he ended up taking my camera, testing it out and while he was testing it out, he ended up running off with it,\u201d said Chappell. <\/p>\n
Seconds later, the man sprinted across the street with the camera in hand without paying a dime.<\/p>\n
Instead of jumping into a waiting getaway car with a driver behind the wheel, Chappell said the man got into a driverless Waymo.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a twist Chappell said he never saw coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt surprised me,\u201d he said. \u201cIt never would be something that I think, \u2018hey, I got to be aware of a Waymo in the middle of the street here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now detectives with the Miami Police Department are actively working to identify the man who committed this theft. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good communication with Waymo, so we are going to contact them and get information on who this offender was, said Officer Mike Vega, an MPD spokesperson. <\/p>\n
As more people buy and sell expensive items online, police say where you meet to conduct transactions can make all the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo to your local police station,\u201d said Vega. \u201cWe know that the victim lives close to our police station, all he has to do is go there, go to our main lobby, and say I\u2019m just here to sell something to someone from the internet, and we allow them to make their transaction there.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Chappell, who is a content creator, the stolen camera wasn\u2019t just an expensive piece of equipment, it\u2019s a tool he depends on to make a living.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big part of my livelihood,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a big loss, which is why I\u2019m trying to do everything can to figure out the situation and kind of get a handle.\u201d<\/p>\n