ATLANTA — An Atlanta man says would-be thieves loosened his pickup truck's wheels during an attempt to steal them, causing one tire to fall off while he was driving.
Eric Ohlhausen says he was driving his Ford F-150 last Friday when his front right wheel came off as he drove down Buford Highway.
“It all happened so fast,” he said. “I’m glad I wasn’t on the highway."
He lives in the Ansley Park neighborhood of Atlanta, where neighbors have reported multiple wheel thefts recently in the upscale community.
Thieves stole the wheels from a Range Rover and a Cadillac Escalade on separate occasions between late July and early August. In both incidents, they left the vehicles on bricks. On Aug. 3 a man’s Chevrolet truck was stolen from his driveway.
Ohlhausen suspected thieves were responsible for his incident when he recovered only one lug nut with his front tire. It had a lock on it which requires additional tools to unlock.
“There were no other lug nuts,” he said, "just the one shred of one and it all made sense that it was an abandoned theft attempt."
The neighborhood pays for security patrols and residents have formed a security committee that discusses safety issues. Still, there’s concern the thieves are undeterred.
“That's all the more frustrating that even with those efforts it's still a challenge,” said Ohlhausen.
Atlanta police tell Channel 2 Action News there have been 10 wheel thefts citywide over the past 30 days. A viewer submitted a photo to Channel 2 Action News of the wheels stolen from her vehicle in a different neighborhood.
Authorities advise that locking lug nuts are the best defense against thieves who want to steal and sell tires. However, that presents its own dangers.
“I certainly would rather have had the tires just taken off,” said Ohlhausen. “It’s a lot more expensive and just when you consider what could have been if I had been driving faster."
WSBTV
