text: On May 13, in South Carolina, the AP reports that a prison inmate, out for a hospital visit, attempted to escape by trying a GTA-style driver-yank-and-carjack on a nearby car. Things didn’t work out so well for 18-year old Ezekiel Stevenson, the wannabe carjacker, because the driver of the car had a tiny advantage: the key fob. 
   
   I have a sort of love/hate relationship with proximity keys. Well, mostly hate, if I’m honest. Sure, they can be convenient, but all too often they manage to cause complicated issues and hassles that could so easily be resolved if the damn car just demanded to have a key jammed in it somewhere. 
   
   This time, though, I have to admit a clear and unfettered victory for the proximity key. See, when Stevenson dragged that unnamed guy out of his car, he had the key fob on him, so when the prison inmate tried to drive away, the car’s owner was able to shut down the car. 
   
   With the car immobile, a standoff ensued, with Stevenson attempting to lock the doors, but the owner just kept clicking the button on the fob and unlocking them, over and over, until police were able to enter the car. 
   
   Advertisement 
   
   Stevenson bolted into the woods, but was caught within the hour. If the car had used a conventional key, this all would have played out very differently. 
   
   Looks like I owe proximity keys a bit of an apology. 
   
   ...
target: – Authorities say a quick-thinking driver thwarted a car-jacking by a jail inmate in South Carolina, reports the AP. Arrest warrants say Ezekiel Stevenson yanked a driver from his car during a hospital visit on May 13. But the driver kept his key fob, shutting the engine down before the car could leave the lot. (This is thanks to a "proximity key," explains Jalopnik.) That led to a standoff with the 18-year-old inmate, who kept trying to lock the doors. Each time, the driver used the fob to unlock them for officers. Stephenson then managed to flee into the woods, dodging an officer's gunshot (no details are provided about why the officer opened fire), but he was found within the hour. He had been in the Darlington County Jail on a hit-and-run charge. Now he's back there facing escape, carjacking, and resisting arrest charges. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.