Caught On Camera: Business Owner Confronts Thief Stealing His Truck

UPLAND (CBSLA)  --  A business owner arriving to his place of business found someone eager to do business.

Unfortunately, the business was closed and the man was trying to steal a truck.

The confrontation between the business owner and the thief was caught on security cameras.

KCAL9's Hermela Aregawi spoke to the business owner, Oscar Sanchez, about the wild and sometimes dangerous encounter.

"It's just adrenaline. You are angry. You are excited," says Sanchez.

The business owner rolls up and finds a man in a truck that belongs to his business trying to leave. Sanchez boxes him in.

"My thought was I can block him in and we can get him arrested," Sanchez says.

The incident happened on March 4th around 4:45 in the morning.

The security cameras first capture a man breaking into Sanchez's construction business, stealing some tools and then hopping in the truck.

Sanchez arrived just as the alleged thief was trying to leave.

"I tried to blocking him in and that's when you see on the video that he's going back and forth, he's burning the tires, he's just trying to get away. Desperately," Sanchez says.

So Sanchez got out of his vehicle and tries to confront the man.

"I try to open his door and he locks it," Sanchez says.

The unidentified man puts the truck in reverse and nearly hits Sanchez.

"We are all just surprised how brazen this guy was -- there is 14 cameras outside," he says, "This person still came in and he just had no regard for anybody's safety."

The suspect perhaps knew the cameras were rolling. Minutes before jumping into the truck, he covered his face with a cloth.

Sanchez identified the man on the video as someone who came to the store hours earlier, with a woman. They both arrived on bikes, Sanchez says. Only the suspect arrived alone.

Sanchez is hoping that a $500 reward will lead to an arrest of the suspect. He's not as angry as some people would be given his property was stolen.

"It's frustrating but there's opportunists everywhere," he said.

The truck that was stolen is a white Chevy Silverado with the words "Mi Casa Pro Roofers" on the side.