MORAVIA -- A would-be car thief apparently picked the wrong victim last night, an off duty police officer.
The Cayuga County Sheriff's Department reports that Mark Starner, an off-duty Cortland County police officer, had pulled his SUV into the Sierzenga Suds car wash on South Main Street in Moravia just after 8:00 Monday night. Starner left his wife and young child in the vehicle while he went to get change. He then noticed a man run into the wash bay where he parked his SUV, and then saw the man enter the vehicle in an attempt to drive off.
Investigators say Starner had a brief struggle with the man, identified as 25-year-old Everett C. McIntosh of 12114 State Route 90 in Locke, New York, before pulling him from the vehicle. Starner held McIntosh down while his wife called 911.
McIntosh is charged with second degree attempted robbery of a motor vehicle and endangering the welfare of a child.
