My name is Julio Perez, and I survived a vehicular assault.
NARRATOR: 10:30 PM, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Julio Perez has finished a shopping trip
and is driving away.
He's unaware that he's being closely tailed by this car.
But as a driver, his two dash cams are recording.
Julio gets a couple of blocks before his nightmare begins.
JULIO PEREZ: You can see them in the background
pulling out about a couple of blocks really from where I was.
And he just basically gunned it just to catch up to me.
[engine roaring]
I got to the stop sign, and he was right next to me.
Right away, I knew something was wrong.
He just cut me off.
Got right in front of me, blocking my path,
like, intentionally.
That's when all the red flags started going off,
and I knew that I just needed to get the hell out of there.
Once I realized that something was crazy,
I just tried to reverse.
[engine roaring]
NARRATOR: The car chases Julio over local roads.
JULIO PEREZ: I was just wondering,
who the hell are these guys?
Why are they following me?
Why are they trying to hurt me?
I was just blown away by the situation
because I was not expecting to be in a car chase.
NARRATOR: The suspect turns on his brights,
this time cutting in front of him near a gas station.
I was just starting to think, am I going to get home tonight?
Am I going to see my baby and my wife?
All this stuff started going through my head.
And I made a left turn into the gas station,
and I gassed it with everything I had.
And they were right next to me the whole time.
What the [bleep] you doing, dude?
NARRATOR: Julio reaches for his phone.
JULIO PEREZ: I was just going straight.
And I figured if I go onto the freeway, you know,
I have no chance because this car is twice
as fast as my car at least.
And what if he rams me off the road, or who knows, you know,
what would have happened?
So I just figured I'd stay on the busy streets.
Maybe I'll see a police officer or something.
NARRATOR: Suddenly, Julio spots flashing lights.
[horn honking]
JULIO PEREZ: I got excited for a second,
and I started racing towards them.
But it turned out to be a tow truck.
It wasn't a police officer.
[line ringing]
911 OPERATOR (ON PHONE): 911 emergency.
Hey, there's a car following me.
He's throwing [bleep] at me.
[bleep]
911 OPERATOR (ON PHONE): Is it behind you and chasing you?
Yes, he's right behind me!
They keep flashing their lights on me,
and they just threw something at my car!
JULIO PEREZ: You hear it in my voice that I'm panicking.
I'm really panicking at this point.
What the hell is going on?
[horn honking]
JULIO PEREZ: And it was just such a relief to see a police
officer in the other lane.
NARRATOR: Julio throws the car in park
and runs to the officer.
JULIO PEREZ: I got out of the car signaling to the cop.
Right when I did that, the car that was chasing me
went around me, and the cop gave chase.
[siren blaring]
911 OPERATOR (ON PHONE): OK, is the officer there with you?
JULIO PEREZ: No, he just-- he just
went on a high-speed car chase.
NARRATOR: Julio catches up with the officer,
who has lost the suspect.
POLICE OFFICER: Did you get a plate number?
I wasn't able to get--
JULIO PEREZ: Man, I was-- hell no.
POLICE OFFICER: That's OK. That's fine.
The guys in the car had gone through a residential
neighborhood, and I guess the policy here in Albuquerque
is that they don't do high-speed pursuits in residential areas.
NARRATOR: Despite the video going viral,
police never find the driver.
[horn honking]
[siren blaring]
JULIO PEREZ: [bleep]
I definitely feel that I was not their first victim
because they were parked waiting for somebody to pull out.
I quit driving altogether.
I'd rather just be safer than put myself in a position
where that could happen again.
NARRATOR: On average, 215 out of every 100,000 people
have their car stolen each year, according
to data compiled from the National
Insurance Crime Bureau.