He probably thought he was going to get away all sneaky like…
A guy in Pinellas County, Florida decided it would be a good idea to run from the cops and try to carjack a Chevy Corvette. In the process of him showing off what he learned while spending many hours playing Grand Theft Auto, he managed to rack up 31 separate charges, helping to guarantee he won’t be getting out of prison for a long time. These are the kind of dumb criminals we love to see in action.
Check out a Tesla get rescued after it’s stuck off-roading here.
According to the Pinellas County Sheriff, who so graciously uploaded helicopter footage of the chase, this incident went down on the afternoon of March 6. Someone made a call about two men fighting each other at Dunedin Cove Motel, what we hear is the swankiest motel in all of Florida. When deputies arrived, they learned the fight was over a drug deal. That’s when 27-year old Kenneth Lunford, Jr. stole the other guy’s car and ran from the law.
During the chase, multiple law enforcement agencies jumped in to help. This guy was pretty slippery, especially since he was willing to put everyone else on the road in jeopardy with his very illegal and dangerous driving.
Early in the video the guy almost hits a Plymouth Prowler head-on. It would’ve been interesting if he had swiped that car since we’ve never seen the Mopar involved in a police chase, but it’s a good thing he didn’t for the driver’s and car’s sake.
Later in the video you see the guy pull in front of a white Corvette as he tries to carjack the sports car. The guy has a brief exchange with the driver, then the other guy smartly drives off instead of waiting to see what the suspect was going to do.
After crashing the car he was originally in, the guy successfully carjacks a black Mustang convertible. There’s a man in the driver’s seat and a woman in the passenger seat. After a brief exchange you can see the guy pull the man out by force, and the car owner stands there with his arms out wide like he’s declaring something to the carjacker. Whatever he said, it would’ve been more effective had he backed it up with some iron.
Fortunately, the rear driver’s side tire was blown out immediately, keeping the suspect from driving as crazy as before. He still tries, but the back end keeps breaking loose with the loss of traction. Still, deputies have to drive hard to catch up to him as he goes up on sidewalks, through the opposing lane of traffic, etc. putting his Grand Theft Auto training to full use.
Then things get messy with the suspect sideswiping a white, car, barely launching out of that pickle right as a police cruiser comes speeding in to trap him, instead T-boning the innocent person’s vehicle. Swerving around a parked car, the guy sends the Mustang into a fence, just demolishing it like a bowling ball going through the pins. And yet he persisted, driving down the side road with parts of the fence hanging off the little pony car.
Realizing the backroad is a horseshoe that takes him right back to the swarm of cops, he uses the Mustang to crash through another fence, then gets out and makes a run for it. Traversing through foliage, he probably thought he’d lost the cops, but the helicopter had a good fix on him. Then they guy jumps in a nearby waterway and tries to make a swim for it. Sadly, there was no boat docked there for him to steal, or the chase would’ve become even more interesting. Also, the guy swims like a two-year-old learning in the shallow end, using his arms to “walk” along the shallow bottom. If he wasn’t a good swimmer, why did he think going into the water was a good idea? Why do criminals do dumb things, then make them worse by running for it, racking up 31 charges? We wish we knew for sure.
