Video shows teenagers using SUV as ‘battering ram’ to break into car dealership

One person has been arrested after surveillance footage captured the moment a group of teenagers from the Chicago area used an SUV as a “battering ram” to smash through a Wisconsin Jaguar/Land Rover dealership after breaking in.

The footage, obtained by Fox6, showed several black-clad individuals enter the Waukesha dealership in the early hours of 18 February before prying open the key box and breaking into nine vehicles.

One of the individuals is then seen getting into a Land Rover Velar before using the car “as a battering ram” to ram through the garage door, allowing other vehicles to be driven through the portal.

The group ultimately fled the scene with more than half a million dollars worth of high-end vehicles, including a 2019 Porsche Macan, a 2024 Land Rover Discovery Dynamic and a 2021 Jaguar F Type R-Dynamic, Fox6 reported.

Eight of the cars belonged to the dealership, while one belonged to a customer.

Calvin Valentine, 17, was taken into custody early on Sunday in connection with the incident, police said in a criminal complaint.

The complaint added that Valentine was arrested following a 40-mile police chase launched after dealership operators arrived at the scene of the robbery to find two garage doors destroyed and broken glass strewn throughout the parking lot.

Valentine denied having damaged the garage doors or prying open the key box, but allegedly admitted taking one key from the box and driving off in one of the stolen vehicles, a white 2021 Land Rover Range Rover Westminster valued at roughly $74,000, which he crashed during the police chase.

Calvin Valentine, 17, was taken into custody early on Sunday in connection with the incident (Waukesha Police Department)

“The defendant stated that his friend gave him a key and he got in the white SUV that he crashed during the pursuit with West Allis,” the criminal complaint read, adding that the defendant told police he was just “‘doing kid’s stuff.’”

Valentine also allegedly claimed that “he did not know what people would do with these cars”, according to the complaint, and refused to identify the other participants in the theft, who remain on the loose.

“We believe this to be an organised crime group of teenagers from the Chicago area,” said Waukesha Police Chief Dan Baumann.

Valentine is now facing four criminal charges – including burglary and receiving stolen property –and remains in Waukesha County Jail on a $50,000 bond, according to online records.

Six of the nine vehicles, some in the Chicago area, have been recovered to date, police said on Monday.

From news to politics, travel to sport, culture to climate – The Independent has a host of free newsletters to suit your interests. To find the stories you want to read, and more, in your inbox, click here.