Tipsheet

In DC, There's a Rather Peculiar Euphemism for Carjackings Nowadays

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  March 29, 2021 3:15 PM

Yeah, you better delete that, Mayor Bowser. The mayor of Washington DC released a how-to-not-get-carjacked video around the time the city is dealing with a brutal murder from…an attempted carjacking. Some noted the rather laughable euphemism the city used in the video; they called car jackings…auto thefts. There have been 95 carjackings in less than three months in the capital. The five-step plan in avoiding getting carjacked was lambasted rightfully as tone-deaf (via Daily Wire):

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser was met with backlash Sunday after tweeting a video advising District residents how to prevent auto thefts, just days after Mohammed Anwar was killed in a fatal carjacking that went viral on social media.

“Auto theft is a crime of opportunity. Follow these steps to reduce the risk of your vehicle becoming a target. Remember the motto, #ProtectYourAuto,” Bowser tweeted

[…]

“Horrible timing on this clearly scheduled tweet. And even if Mohammed Anwar wasn’t dead, carjackings are a plague in DC — there isn’t a lot you can do [with regard to] risk reduction besides simply not driving a car. This was broad daylight,” journalist Natalia Antonova wrote on Twitter.

Anwar, an Uber Eats driver, was killed when two black teenaged girls, aged 13 and 15, tried to steal his car. They tased him and tried to take off, with Answer clinging to his car door. He was killed when the car crashed and flipped over. The two girls have been charged with murder, but it gained attention due to the graphic video of the crime. Also, CNN’s appalling take on the story, where the outlet seemed allergic or hesitant to declare that Anwar was murdered by these two girls, only further put a microscope on the incident.