The hazards of stealing other people’s stuff…
A woman ran over a man as he was allegedly sawing off the catalytic converter on her Ford Excursion in Palmdale, California recently. The suspect didn’t survive the crushing from that hulking SUV, which honestly is no surprise.
Find out what Tesla part thieves are targeting here.
We know a lot of people won’t feel much sympathy for catalytic converter thieves and we understand why. After all, having yours stolen can set you back a shocking sum, plus with parts shortages you might not be able to drive your vehicle for a while.
Thieves really love to hit trucks and SUVs not only because their cats are huge and they often have a couple of them, but also they can just climb right under and remove them without jacking the vehicle up first. Of course, climbing under any vehicle when the owner doesn’t know you’re there comes with quite a bit of risk.
We’re actually surprised this doesn’t happen more often. In this case, a report from Los Angeles Times says the alleged attempted theft took place at a retail area. Four people pulled up into a parking lot and parked near the targeted Ford Excursion. One of them got out and climbed under the SUV, then started to saw off the cat. What the suspect didn’t realize was a woman was sleeping inside the Ford. The sound of him sawing through the exhaust system woke her up.
Probably in a panic because she didn’t know what was happening, the woman turned on the Excursion and backed out of the parking spot. She reportedly “felt a bump like she ran over something.” Obviously she did and when she realized that something was a man, she called 911.
It doesn’t sound like anyone’s blaming her and honestly this wasn’t even a case of the woman performing some act of vigilantism, which was what we thought was the case when we first saw this story. Instead, it’s just a matter of someone getting crushed while under a vehicle when it started to move suddenly. Sadly, this probably won’t deter more catalytic converter thefts since these crime rings that organize everything make millions.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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