Atlanta mayoral candidate denies wanting to 'defund' police after kids steal car

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Atlanta mayoral candidate and city councilman Antonio Brown denied to Fox News that he's ever wanted to "defund" police, after several children stole his Mercedes in broad daylight this week.

Still, Councilman Antonio Brown had voted in support of an ordinance to withhold $73 million from the budget of the Atlanta Police Department last year. He noted that the money would go into escrow "in order to reimagine our public safety system."

He was attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony in northeast Atlanta around noon Wednesday when at least four kids jumped into his car and took off, FOX 5 of Atlanta reported. 

"It’s unfortunate, in addition, the Major who was on the scene stated that no amount of officers in the field could have prevented the incident from happening that occurred with my vehicle being stolen. I support reimagining public safety as I’ve always stated in every public and private conversation on this issue," Brown told Fox News.

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"This was not a circumstance of a number of officers on the beat," Brown said during a virtual news conference Thursday, in response to a question about a potential need for more policing. "This was a circumstance of these kids operating within whatever they felt was necessary for their own survival, a situation of generational poverty and acting on this basis of survival."

Antonio Brown at an event in Atlanta this past February. (Prince Williams/WireImage, File)

Wednesday's incident unfolded amid a recent crime wave in Atlanta. Brown, who joined the city's mayoral race less than three weeks ago, is running on a campaign of "reimagining public safety," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. 

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Brown said the thieves jumped in his vehicle Wednesday after he got out to speak with community leader Ben Norman. He noted his white Mercedes-Benz coupe has keyless push-to-start ignition and he failed to realize it had been started, reports said. 

The councilman described the kids as being between ages 6 and 12, FOX 5 reported. 

"One kid was in the driver’s seat. Ben attempted to open the door to get him out of the car. He fought with Ben. I then engaged and tried to get him out of the car. The three other kids were trying to figure out how to get in the car or stay out of the car. He started to hit on the gas," Brown said. 

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Brown added that he held on to the car in an attempt to stop them and was dragged about a block down the road before letting go. 

He said that the child driving his vehicle "started to speed up" so fast that he would have died if he continued holding onto the car.

Brown doesn't plan on filing charges against the kids, who he says acted out of desperation, Atlanta's WSB-TV reported.

Fox News' David Aaro contributed to this report.