By GWEN MURANAKA, Rafu Senior Editor
Published April 2, 2024
Fox 11 anchor and reporter Susan Hirasuna became part of the news last Thursday, when her car was stolen in Downtown Los Angeles.
Hirasuna was attending a concert with a friend at the United Theater on Broadway and when she returned, found her white Tesla was gone. She was able to view the location of her car using the Tesla app.
“The wildest thing is back in the olden days, my car is gone and you’d report it, but instead, thanks to the app, I was able to see it,” Hirasuna said in an interview with The Rafu Shimpo.
She went to the LAPD administrative building on Main Street to notify police of the theft. The Emmy-winning journalist noted that because of her experience as a reporter, she knew that Central Division would be closed at that time of the evening.
“I could hear this police chatter and hear another officer saying that they see the car on Wall Street. I realized that was matching up with what I’m seeing on the app,” Hirasuna said.
LAPD pursued the suspects and at one point considered performing a PIT maneuver. But instead they continued to follow the car until the battery ran out of power in East Hollywood.
Fox 11 showed video of Hirasuna speaking with police after the pursuit was over. At least two suspects were taken into custody.
Police initially thought the Tesla may have been connected to an ax assault on Skid Row earlier that evening, and the vehicle was taken in for further investigation and to take fingerprints. Hirasuna reported that her car wasn’t involved and her Tesla was returned.
Unfortunately, everything she had in her car was taken, including shoes and changes of clothes for different assignments.
“I had over 100 miles on that charge, and they depleted the battery in a couple hours, so they did a lot of driving,” Hirasuna said.
She said in the future, when she is out of her car, she’ll turn the Tesla onto Valet Mode, a security feature that restricts certain features in the car.
To deter vehicle theft, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advises drivers to park in well-lit areas if possible and never leave valuables in your vehicle, especially if they can be seen from outside the vehicle.
It is advice that Hirasuna said she learned the hard way.
“I walked away with a couple of lessons: make sure there’s nothing visible in my car. Also with the Tesla every time you park it, you can put it into Valet Mode,” she said.