‘Shirt Wrapped around Wiper’ Warning

Ashley’s Smart Reaction to a Despicable Prank

At a mall in Flint, MI, Ashley Hardacre had finished work and was walking to her vehicle in the mall parking lot. On her car, she found a shirt entangled in the windshield wiper. She apparently didn’t notice it until after she got in her car.

“I got to my car and locked the doors behind me immediately as I always do and noticed that there was a blue flannel shirt on my windshield.”

She decided not to get back out of her car

Ashley tried to use the windshield wipers to push the shirt off. But she discovered that it was wound around the wiper.

She also said she was aware of two cars nearby and that one of them was running.

Ashley mentioned that she had seen posts about people finding things under their windshield wipers in the Flint area as an attempt to get women out of their cars. So that they would be more vulnerable to attack.

Because of that, she chose to stay in her car. And she drove to a safe area where she could remove the shirt.

Ashley told security about the incident the next day. She posted about the incident on Facebook and it quickly went viral.

News sites picked up the story. The police got involved. And they started an investigation.

Turns out a couple of guys thought it would be fun to prank Ashley by putting the shirt on her windshield wiper. They thought it was a funny joke. Not!

2 Men Admit to Prank After Picture Goes Viral

We can learn from her ordeal

Ashley was absolutely right to stay in her car.

Even though it turned out to be a prank, Ashley thought it was real. She thought it was a ploy by a predator. There’s no telling what predators will do to get what they want.

So we must always be aware and cautious.

Related Post: Self Defense and Safety in Your Vehicle

Kudos to Ashley’s parents for teaching her to be aware of her surroundings and to think before acting!

Kudos to Ashley for being aware of potential danger! She handled the situation very well.

Ashley was smart.

Be like Ashley.

Related Post: Avoid Being Targeted in a Parking Lot

Here is what Ashley wrote on Facebook

I worked a closing shift tonight so me and the girls I work with always walk out together to make sure we are safe in the parking lot. I got to my car and locked the doors behind me immediately as I always do and noticed that there was a blue flannel shirt on my windshield. 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.

At first I thought maybe someone had just thrown it on my car for some odd reason. I used my windshield wipers to try to get them off but the shirt was completely wrapped around my wiper blade. I had seen posts lately about people finding things under their windshield wipers in the burton/Flint area as an attempt to get girls out of their cars and distracted. 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.

I don’t know why the shirt was on my car but it had to have been intentional the way it was put on there. I really can’t think of another reason as to why someone would put it on my car. Tomorrow I am informing security of the situation and making them walk me to my car from now on. It definitely frightened me a little bit 😥 I’m so glad my parents had informed me that it was happening in our area, I just never thought it would potentially happen to my car.”

~Shereen

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