Caught on camera: teens crash after allegedly stealing SUV from Cape Coral home

Three teenagers have been arrested for allegedly stealing a Range Rover from a home near Bayshore Drive in Cape Coral on Christmas morning and crashing it. The victim’s boyfriend pursued the suspects after they allegedly took off in his girlfriend’s SUV, and it was all caught on his dashcam video. The victim told Cape Coral Police officers when she woke up, she realized her car was missing from her driveway.

“It was unlocked, keys were in it. They ransacked the boyfriend’s car, the victim’s car, they stole Christmas presents,” said Mercedes Phillips, public information officer of Cape Coral Police. According to the Cape Coral Police Department, surveillance footage showed four male juveniles rifling through the victim’s boyfriend’s truck before entering the Range Rover.

Her boyfriend pinged the Range Rover to a 7-Eleven off Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers on Dec.

25 and followed it. The three teens saw the victim’s boyfriend, and two of them fled in a white BMW. A third suspect fled in the Range Rover and attempted to flee the scene, and a fourth jumped on the hood of the Range Rover.

The SUV took off at a high rate of speed while the victim’s boyfriend followed, and the other suspect held on to the hood. The Range Rover ran a light at College Parkway and Cleveland Avenue in Fort Myers and T-boned a van. The teen on the hood of the car was taken to the hospital with serious injuries that were not life-threatening.

The BMW had no license plate and was later confirmed stolen from the East Coast. The BMW also contained items stolen from the Range Rover. The fourth suspect who fled the scene is still under investigation.

“The boyfriend was instrumental in this case and giving us the his dashcam footage and he was very compliant in our investigation with helping us develop things further,” said Phillips.

The teens are being charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft and burglary of an unoccupied conveyance.

Police say it does not appear that the suspects knew the victims, but they were trying door handles to see which were unlocked.