PLEASANT HILL, Iowa — Southeast Polk High School sophomore Brayden Thomas is at a loss for words after he had his car stolen at school in broad daylight.
Brayden's mom said that a staff member first noticed a suspicious person in the school parking lot. That staff member immediately alerted school administrators and the school went into lockdown.
Unfortunately, Brayden had just left the school, and when he returned he wasn’t aware of what was going on.
Last Thursday around 4 p.m., Brayden was in the Southeast Polk High School parking lot, getting ready to go to choir practice after grabbing a bite to eat.
While parked there in his 2003 Ford Explorer, he saw a man he didn’t recognize.
“I shut my car off and I open my door, and he walks out to my car and says, ‘Hey, buddy, how are you doing?’" Brayden said. “I try to shut my door. He grabs my door and then punches me in the eye.”
Brayden immediately surrendered everything he had at the time: his phone, a shirt and his car keys.
“My mind was going all over the place, like, what am I going to do? Does he have a weapon? Where is he going to go?” Brayden said.
Thankfully, Brayden said the man wasn’t armed.
“Just knowing that he was safe, and that he didn't get too severely hurt was definitely a blessing,” Brayden’s mom, Samantha Thomas said.
It turns out the man, 20-year-old Elijah Sack of Des Moines, drove and eventually crashed Brayden’s car in an Illinois town just west of Peoria.
“I mean, he took a car, didn't injure me terribly, so it wasn't anything very valuable to me,” Brayden said. “What was valuable to me at that time was my life.”
Looking back at it now, Brayden’s parents are happy that he did exactly what they always taught him to do.
“We had sat down with Brayden and had the conversation of, ‘hey, we want you to know how proud we are,’” Brayden’s dad, Seth Thomas said. “‘This was a big deal that you just handed stuff over because a car can be replaced. You can't.’”
The Thomas family is collecting donations through GoFundMe to get Brayden a new car.
The Southeast Polk Community School District told Local 5 in a statement that it is urging staff and students to take the following precautions going forward:
- Lock your car and ensure valuables are out of sight.
- Be aware of your surroundings and report any suspicious activity immediately.
- Avoid leaving personal belongings unattended.
- Help keep our buildings secure by ensuring doors are locked.
- Don’t let anyone in your building except through the main entrance.
According to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, Sack allegedly went on to steal two more cars and attempt to steal another, all in Illinois.
He currently faces charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing and eluding, burglary and possession of stolen property. He is in jail in Fulton County, Illinois.