NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans’ Trevor Norris is well known on TikTok and Instagram, in part, for his jam sessions behind the wheel of his Kia Optima.
But Dec. 13 , in Mid City, he awoke to find it missing from its parking spot.
“I woke up early that morning, ready to go to work. I looked out, I was like, my car is not here,” said Norris.
Norris’ car had been stolen, along with his only pair of replacement contacts, several brand-new tubs of protein powder, his IDs, and some family heirlooms.
“You never know whose going to be a victim,” he said.
Struggling without proper eyewear, and desperate to get his wheels back, he made a plea to his combined one million followers.
The video starts, “This video is specifically for the people that stole my car in New Orleans.” He went on to ask for his stuff back and show viewers his license plate, hoping it might be seen by the right person.
Car thefts have exploded in New Orleans this year, with more than a dozen cars stolen per day. According to the Metro Crime Commission, car thefts are up almost 70 percent over 2022.
But not everyone has the platform to blast their license plate to millions. Equal parts serious and humorous, the video racked up more than a million views.
“So I made the video and the video ended up blowing up,” Norris said.
Then, somehow, it worked. Someone spotted his car dumped on Encampment Street near McDonough 35 and sent him a message.
“They sent it and I was like thank you, I called the police and I was like, let's go get it,” he said. In a follow-up video later, he shows his followers the contacts and tubs of protein powder recovered from his car, plus his late grandmother’s phone, which was not stolen.
A cross necklace from his father is missing, the back window is broken, and the ignition of the car has been destroyed, but Norris says he’s just thankful to be one of the few people who ever see their car again.
“It was literally like they took it just to take it, and drove down the street and just dropped it off and took whatever had my information on it,” he said.
Norris had a GoFundMe set up initially when his car was stolen, but since its recovery, he said he’s given the money away to the people who helped him boost his video’s reach and find his car.
But, he said next time you see him singing along online, it will likely be from behind the wheel of a different car.
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