FLINT, Mich. – A 19-year-old woman’s warning to others has been shared widely on Facebook after she found a shirt laid over her windshield Thursday.
Ashley Hardacre had just finished working at the Genesee Valley Mall in Flint, Michigan, and walked across the dark parking lot to her car – when she found a blue flannel shirt thrown over her windshield and tucked underneath a windshield wiper.
“There were two cars near me and one was running so I immediately felt uneasy and knew I couldn’t get out to get it off,” Hardacre explained on Facebook. “Luckily, I knew better than to remove the shirt with cars around me so I drove over to a place where I was safe and quickly rolled down my window and got the shirt off.”
Hardacre told CBS News that her mother had warned her of people trying to trick women into leaving their cars in the dark, and said, “A lot of people think it is fake or it won’t happen to them. But you can never be too safe.”
Hardacre said she posted the photo to warn others, adding that “it can happen to anyone.”
Flint Township Police Detective Sergeant Brad Wangler told CBS that he got in touch with the 19-year-old after seeing her Facebook post. Police are looking at surveillance video of the parking lot to see who left the shirt on Hardacre’s windshield.
Wangler said there haven’t been similar incidents, but added that anyone who feels something “doesn’t seem right” should contact police.
Hardacre wrote that she was grateful to her mother for telling her about the potential danger, and, just to be safe, the 19-year-old will ask security to escort her at night in the future.
