It wasn’t that long ago we were being told while covering car thefts, including carjackings, that they were “victimless crimes.” After all, cars are covered by insurance and so it’s no big deal if someone steals yours, said people who have never filed an insurance claim in their lives. But we’re surrounded constantly by examples of how that isn’t true, like this huge crash caused by a carjacked Chevy Camaro.
Your face might unlock your car soon.
After the suspect carjacked the Camaro in Memphis, Tennessee, police started giving chase. Now we know some people will argue that means the cops caused the crash, but we’ve seen so many accidents like this that happen after police call off a pursuit, we don’t think that’s true at all.
Witnesses told WREG News they heard what sounded like an explosion. Looking at the aftermath with several cars in pieces strewn everywhere, it actually looks like there was an explosion. While witnesses say some of the other vehicle occupants were seemingly injured, the suspect ran away on foot and tried hiding in a gas station. Thankfully he was caught.
Memphis, like far too many other cities, has a real problem with not just car theft but also carjackings. These crimes are often committed with victims held at gunpoint and sometimes they turn fatal. We wouldn’t call that victimless at all.
One person who was interviewed on camera but didn’t want his face shown blamed “the system” for not being tough enough on criminals. Considering how often we’ve covered repeat offenders getting released before the ink dries on their paperwork from stealing a car, only to steal another car hours later, it definitely seems to be a problem.
Hopefully people can agree car theft isn’t just some little thing we can dismiss. The big question is what should be done about it?
Image via WREG News/YouTube
Follow The Auto Wire on Google News.
+ There are no comments
Add yours