Ashley Hardacre was approaching her car after working in Genesee Valley Mall in Flint, Michigan on a Thursday night when she noticed a bunched-up shirt on her windshield. She noticed that someone had draped the flannel shirt over the glass and secured it under the windshield wiper.
Being cautious of her surroundings, the 19-year-old left the shirt where it was, got into her car, locked the doors and drove away. She created a viral Facebook post about the incident to inform others and to follow by her example.
“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 in her post. “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 about potential tricks people could use to lure women out of their cars, which led her to write the post and share her experience.
“I posted about the incident to inform others that it can happen to anyone and that they shouldn’t fall for it… A lot of people think it is fake or it won’t happen to them. But you can never be too safe.”
Flint Township Police Detective Sergeant Brad Wangler contacted Hardacre after he saw the post. The local police department is now investigating the incident along with mall security, searching surveillance footage to hopefully find the people responsible.