An Indian American doctor has been killed by persons who allegedly stole a Mercedes Benz and hit him with the car in the American capital, according to police. Washington – like places across the US – has seen a huge spike in carjackings, vehicle thefts and major crimes in the aftermath of anti-police protests that followed the killing of an African American man by police two years ago in Minnesota.

Police said that the suspect entered Rakesh Patel's car when he was outside it and hit him while fleeing in the car on Tuesday. WJLA TV said that when Patel, 33, stepped out of his car to give his girlfriend a package, the thieves entered the car started to drive away.

“In a panic, he ran after them somehow getting in front of the car. The car thieves ran him down killing him” while his “girlfriend watched in horror”, the TV station reported.

According to NBC4 Washington TV, his father and two siblings are also doctors.

He was the youngest child and his mother Charulatta Patel told the station, “I always used to call him my baby”. The reported that she called the killing senseless, and asked, “For what? A car”?

The Washington Post reported that carjackings in Washington “spiked 200 per cent from 2019 to 2021, and continue to rise this year”. Last March a Pakistani food delivery person was killed by two girls, 13 and 15 years old, who carjacked his car.

 While the car in the latest carjacking was recovered, the suspects had not been captured as of Thursday. 

(SAM)