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Family traumatized after thieves steal Porsche, assault boy in Minnetonka driveway

Thieves steal Porsche, beat up boy in Minnetonka family's driveway
Thieves steal Porsche, beat up boy in Minnetonka family's driveway 01:58

MINNETONKA, Minn. – New video shows the brazen theft of a Porsche, taken right out of a Minnetonka family's driveway.

Craig Beason says his wife had just returned from the grocery store when he got this text message from his son: "I got assaulted, and mommy's car got stolen."

"So she had taken the first load in, the kids had gone in, and she came out for the second load, and there was someone in my car in the garage," Beason said.

RELATED: Hennepin County Attorney's Office collaborates with local law enforcement to combat youth car thefts

Surveillance video captured part of what happened next, as his wife tried to stop the thieves.

"My son then comes out, she screams, 'Call 911!' He's calling 911 when a fourth individual came over to try to get his phone. My son, my 13-year-old son, wouldn't give it to him. So he gets my son on the ground [and] starts beating him up trying to get the phone," Beason said.

The thieves dumped his Porsche Cayenne at a nearby Walgreens.   

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Craig Beason

"The thing that concerned me the most was, you know, they had multiple police officers, undercover officers, watch them standing in the parking lot of a Walgreens and nothing was done," he said. "That is what I don't understand."

Police called off their pursuit of the getaway car when the teens started driving dangerously.

Beason says while his family will be OK physically, the mental toll of the crime has been difficult.

RELATED: As car thefts spike, many thieves slip through U.S. border unchecked

"Like a lot of post-incident trauma, thinking about, you know, is someone following me now? Is someone going to, you know, run into the garage and rip me out of the car?" he said. "My son, like, a hard time sleeping at night because every time a car goes by he thinks is someone pulling into the driveway to, you know, to come back?"

Minnetonka police declined to comment on an open investigation. They did tell WCCO that the area saw a spike in stolen cars earlier this month, and many of them were used to commit other crimes.

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