Rye police say the quick thinking of a neighbor helped stop a car from being stolen on Wednesday.

Rye police posted on their Facebook page about a man dressed in all black trying to steal someone's BMW Wednesday morning on Coolidge Avenue. He may have gotten away with it had it not been for an alert neighbor who yelled and chased him away.

They say the man came to Rye in a Hyundai Santa Fe stolen that morning from Newark, New Jersey with a license plate K29-LBM.

Authorities say there has been a big jump in car thefts over the last couple weeks.