Mom takes down would-be carjacker in the Bronx, holds him until police show up

A single mom in New York took matters into her own hands Tuesday morning when she caught a would-be carjacker in her SUV.

Tihisha Jones, who lives in the Bronx, was getting ready to take her 5-year-old son to school when she found a man sitting in the front seat of her 2005 Honda Pilot, WABC-TV reported.

"I had to take matters into my own hands because I work, I saved to get that car myself," she told WABC.

The 49-year-old woman yanked the suspect out of her vehicle and wrestled him to the ground where she held him until the cops arrived. Police have identified the suspect as 19-year-old Bernado Santiago.

The encounter was captured on video by a neighbor in an upstairs apartment who heard a ruckus going on below.

"Welcome to the f***ing Bronx," the woman who filmed the incident said in the video.

What are the details?

It was about 7:30 a.m. when Jones caught Santiago inside her vehicle.

Initially, she opened the passenger side door to confront him, but he pulled the door shut.

Jones told police that Santiago was trying to start the car's ignition.

That's when Jones went around to the driver's side, opened the door and pulled him out of the car.

"I just kept hitting him saying, 'You was trying to steal my car,'" Jones said. "Like, really, are you serious?

At one point, Santiago can be seen in the video trying to slip out of his shirt to get away, but Jones tackled him to the ground and held him there.

"I gotta do what I gotta do," Jones said. "He was gonna try to drive off. What was I supposed to do?

Why did Jones fight back?

Jones, who suffers from congestive heart failure and sometimes uses a walker, told WABC that she needs her car to transport her son to and from school and to get to her doctors appointments.

She said someone had broken out one of her car's windows last week and that the rear spoiler was stolen the week before that.

"I just had enough. I just had enough," she said. "It's time to fight back. I don't think this is fair that people work hard for these things and for somebody to just take your things away. I don't that's fair."

Jones' son was standing nearby where the incident occurred, the video showed.

What else?

Santiago told police that he was inside Jones' car because he thought it was his Uber ride.

Authorities charged Santiago with attempted grand larceny, petit larceny, and criminal stolen possession of stolen property, according to WABC.