Calgary father stops alleged carjacking with his children in the backseat
Calgary father stops alleged carjacking with his children in the backseat
Calgary father stops alleged carjacking with his children in the backseat
A Calgary father says he's traumatized after a man attempted to steal his vehicle while his two children were still in the backseat.
Jonathan Bandialan was picking up dinner from a restaurant along Memorial Drive N.E. Wednesday when his dash-cam captured the terrifying scene.
Bandialan's 16-year-old son Jezthene and two-year-old daughter were waiting in the warm vehicle when the video shows a man appear in front of the van. He circles back a few times, looking inside, before he can be heard entering the vehicle's front seat.
A short exchange with Jezthene ensues, where the man orders the teen to leave the vehicle.
"I'm taking the van," he can be heard saying, “Get out."
"I wanted to fight, but he's tall and I (was) so scared," Jezthene told CTV News.
But his father says Jezthene's quick thinking saved the day.
The teen was able to stall the man, saying he needed to help his sister out of the van and grab his belongings before leaving.
That's when he says he phoned his dad, who was just metres away in the restaurant.
"He told me, in Filipino words, 'Dad, hurry up,'" Bandialan said. "And so I ran out. He opened the door already so I could easily get in."
The van's back door was thrown open, and on the footage, Jonathan can be heard entering the moving vehicle as the man pulls out of the parking lot.
"I grabbed him right away and he tried to fight back," Bandialan said. "He's a big guy. Strong, too."
But luckily for the family, the father is trained in martial arts. Using the back of the front seat as leverage, he was able to pin the man from the van's middle seats.
"I got a chance to choke him, I used my strength and then I heard him speaking," he said.
On the recording, just seconds after the struggle started, the man can be heard begging to be let free. As Bandialan's young daughter cried, Jezthene pulled the parking brake and the vehicle came to a stop.
Despite Bandialan's best efforts, he says the man was able to escape and flee the scene.
The father briefly considered chasing the man again, but says he decided against it.
"I just wanted to get back my son, my daughter, you know," Bandialan said. "I don't think about my car, that's a material thing."
Police were phoned and an investigation is ongoing, but officers say no arrests have been made.
Anyone who may have more information about what happened is asked to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
Fallen R&B superstar R. Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison Wednesday for using his fame to subject young fans - some just children - to systematic sexual abuse.
Police in Saanich, B.C., kept an area near a bank evacuated overnight as they continue to investigate a possible explosive device linked to a deadly gunfight with two suspected bank robbers.
Five months ago, the first 'Freedom Convoy' trucks rolled into Ottawa. After the federal government took the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act to end the protests, a series of inquiries and probes have been initiated. With the nation's capital bracing for more protests over the Canada Day weekend, CTVNews.ca takes a look at where the main commissions and studies stand.
A mother of three children is speaking out after spending a night on the floor of Toronto Pearson Airport with her young kids in a nightmare weekend of travel.
A toddler accidentally left in a vehicle for hours died Tuesday and police said his father was found dead in an apparent suicide at their Virginia home, police said.
Canada has signed an agreement to upgrade the NATO battlegroup it leads in Latvia to a brigade, a move that signals its commitment to the military alliance while continuing to resist calls to boost defence spending.
Canada's transport minister is speaking out about the 'unacceptable issues' that continue to result in significant delays. He says the federal government has done everything in its control to fix the issue.
Through the use of MRI technology and spearheaded by researchers at Western University, the cause of long COVID symptoms have been identified for the first time.
A proposed $150-million settlement with Purdue Pharma Canada covering all provinces and territories has been reached for the recovery of health-care costs related to the sale and marketing of opioid-based pain medication.
Recent heavy rains across British Columbia's central and southern Interior are swelling river levels in many areas, prompting a renewed flood watch and more high streamflow advisories.
An RCMP officer who was among 22 people killed in the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting was remembered today during a regimental service in Halifax that recalled her brave actions.
A mother of three children is speaking out after spending a night on the floor of Toronto Pearson Airport with her young kids in a nightmare weekend of travel.
Police in Saanich, B.C., kept an area near a bank evacuated overnight as they continue to investigate a possible explosive device linked to a deadly gunfight with two suspected bank robbers.
Police say they have started to clear a protest camp on Vancouver Island that's blocking access to a forestry operation in the Fairy Creek Watershed area Wednesday.
Canada's transport minister is speaking out about the 'unacceptable issues' that continue to result in significant delays. He says the federal government has done everything in its control to fix the issue.
Ontario is more than doubling the maximum rate a landlord can raise a tenant's rent next year – marking the highest rent increase guideline in the province in a decade.
Ahead of the hustle and bustle of festival season in Montreal, Quebec health officials are asking people to stay vigilant amid rising COVID-19 numbers.
A 27-year-old Montreal woman has been sentenced in New York State following her conviction of 'trafficking in protected wildlife,' according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Montreal police (SPVM) have arrested a second person they say was actively involved in the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Meriem Boundaoui a year and a half ago.
Anne-Marie Ready, 50, and Jasmine Ready, 15, died from stab wounds following an incident at a home on Anoka Street Monday night, police said Wednesday afternoon.
"We choose not to celebrate the ongoing colonization, oppression and genocide of Indigenous peoples of this land," Moo Shu Ice Cream said in a social media post.
The family of a Black four-year-old who was removed from school by police has filed a lawsuit against the Waterloo Catholic District School Board seeking $1 million in damages for what they says is the board's discrimination and negligence.
Recent data shows more than half of all flights in and out of some of Canada's major airports are being cancelled or delayed, as frustrations for travellers mount due in part to increased summer travel and not enough airport staff.
Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre has issued its 2022 Summer Conditions Report, calling for a higher than normal risk of flooding on most major lakes and near-seasonal temperatures.
Mandatory fire sprinkler systems in new residential builds and the Arcola Avenue corridor study are some of the items on Regina City Council’s agenda for its Wednesday afternoon meeting.
A death investigation is underway after a man’s body was found on the 1200 block of Rae Street early Wednesday morning, Regina Police Service (RPS) said in a release.
A 36-year-old man was not hurt after he was approached by a man with a knife and robbed of his groceries south of downtown on Monday, the Regina Police Service (RPS) said in a release.
