Man live streams the search for his Mini Cooper which was stolen twice in just two days

  • Ben Yu's Mini Cooper was stolen twice in a span of two days in San Francisco
  • He was able to find its location using an app called Getaround
  • Officers wouldn't track down the car until Yu filed a police statement
  • The second time he tracked down his car himself and called police from there

By ABIGAIL MILLER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Published: | Updated:

A San Francisco man had his Mini Cooper stolen twice in just two days, but was able to track it down using a ride-sharing app. 

Ben Yu realized his car was gone for the first time on Wednesday morning, and after two days of back and forth, police were finally able to arrest a suspect.

The software developer realized that he could track his car using an app called Getaround, which is a service that allows people to rent their personal cars to others and earn extra money.

The app requires that each car has a GPS installed, so Yu was immediately able to tell police where the car was when he called 911. 

However, officers they insisted that he come into the station to file a report before they began to track it down, Yu told Buzzfeed News.

Ben Yu had his Mini Cooper stolen twice in just two days, but was able to track it down using a ride-sharing ap

Ben Yu had his Mini Cooper stolen twice in just two days, but was able to track it down using a ride-sharing ap

The process took three hours, during which his car ran out of gas and was left a city away in Brisbane, California. The thief left it on the side of the road, but took the key with him.

Yu retrieved his car, but it was taken again on Thursday from almost exactly the same spot. 

He awoke at 8:15 on Thursday morning to see his car was gone, and immediately assumed it was the same person because they will have already had a key.

Again Yu called the San Francisco police, and they again told him that he would have to file another report before law enforcement could take action.

Despite knowing the car's exact location, Yu spent over an hour at the police station before he began to grow frustrated. Finally, an officer told told him that he would intervene if Yu could track down and see the car.

Yu rented a car from Getaround and live-streamed himself hunting the car down. In the Facebook live, he follows the GPS signal of the car as his friend drives.

Yu rented a car from Getaround and live-streamed himself hunting the car down
In the Facebook live, he follows the GPS signal of the car as his friend drives
They eventually find it in a Safeway parking lot and call the cops, who apprehended the thief

 Yu rented a car from Getaround and live-streamed himself hunting the car down. In the Facebook live, he follows the GPS signal of the car as his friend drives

They eventually find it in a Safeway parking lot and call the cops, who apprehended the thief

They eventually find it in a Safeway parking lot and call the cops, who apprehended the thief

They eventually find it in a Safeway parking lot and call the cops, who apprehended the thief. 

When they spotted the car, it was turned off and parked, with the suspect shopping for something inside the Safeway. 

In the live stream Yu tells his viewers that the police told them to hang back. Eventually the man comes out of the Safeway and makes his way over to the car, at which time police can be heard yelling 'hands up'.  

Yu said he plans to remove his car from the Getaround app and install tighter security measures. 

'I want to put in an alarm and security cameras, which I'd have to disable every time someone wanted to rent it from Getaround,' he told Buzzfeed.  

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