This was certainly a strange twist of events…
We’ve seen a lot of weird car theft stories, but this one out of San Mateo, California is one of the more bizarre. It started with a man being chased by police and ended with him running out of gas and dying. And it involves a Shelby GT500, because it just does.
Learn about stolen American classic cars turned into UK junk racers here.
Back on September 21 at about 4:15 in the morning, police were hot on the trail of one Eric Jaeger, a 31-year-old man whom police say had stolen a white Shelby GT500. Officers had their hands full trying to keep up with the pony car, so the suspect got so far ahead of them that they eventually completely lost sight of the white car.
While crossing the San Mateo Bridge, Jaeger’s luck ran out and so did the gas in the Shelby. Surely he saw the gas light before, but the man kept pushing the GT500 hard to shake the fuzz and as a result he literally drained the tank so the car just stopped dead.
By the time authorities caught up with him, Jaeger was also dead. They believe after he ran out of gas, the man got out of the car and was hit by oncoming traffic. What a way to go.
Originally, police were called by some homeowners who said Jaeger broke into their home and stole items. The only thing we can tell that he took was the Shelby. Some might call this justice because home invasion robberies tend to be rather violent and are a horrible thing to put anyone through. We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
This is a great reminder to beef up your home and vehicle security, if you haven’t done so already. Criminals seem to be extra motivated lately, so taking preventative measures is wise.
Source and photos: KTVU
