I had a different night last night...

Topic: I had a different night last night... (Read 1769 times) previous topic - next topic

I had a different night last night...

March 21, 2009, 04:33:48 PM

So last night someone tried to steal a truck out of my apartment complex last night.

I have been working nights the last couple of days at my work. I slept a good portion of the day, and was not able to fall asleep. My freind delivers pizza's as a side job, at got off of work around 12:30 AM. He came over to my house and we played some grand turismo and smoked some cigarettes. He ran out, so we went to a gas station. Afterwords we ended up sitting in my car having a chat, when a caddilac pulled up squeling its tires and two guys got out. One guy ran up to my door and said "were driving that truck, OK?" and I said okay.

They ran up to it and I watched them force open the vent window and roll down the other window. Then I heard him hitting on something with a hammer. It didn't even occur to me that he was trying to steal the car until this point. I didn't know what do to, so I handed my freind my cell phone and turned my head lights on. When I did, the guy ran and jumped back in his caddilac. I asked my freind if he wanted to follow him and he said sure, and that he couldn't remember the whole plate. So we caught up to him, he had about a 2 minute head start on the old bird.

He started to speed up quickly after we caught up. He was doing at least a 60 in a 25. I just tried to keep up with him, rather then really follow him. Its been years since I've really beat on one of these cars, and the bird was more then able to keep up. We actually gained the most ground while going around corners. I watched them go over speed bumps, gutters, and even someones front yard, way faster then I ever would. They through sparks off the bottom of there car with almost every bump.

I got really close to them. My freind just barely got to talk to dispatch and was telling them street signs while I was driving. They stopped suddenly, and I had to lock up all 4 tires before slidding right by them around a corner. I stopped, and before I knew what was going on, they were already out of there car. One of them pulled my door open, and tried to pull me out of the car. I had my seat belt on. He hit me in the face about 6 times. I took my seat belt off and stood up. I was at least a foot taller then either of them, and think I scared them quite a bit, because the guy that hit me, punched me in the chest and then tried to knock me into my car. When I stood up the other guy ran over to there car and was screaming at the other buy to get back in the car. When he unsecessfully tried to shove me and couldn't, He ran back to his car and it took off.

By this point in time I was pretty pissed off. I did not hit him back, nor did I say anything. I'm alittle bit bigger guy at 6'5" and around 180 lbs. When they took off, I was really mad. I have never had anyone just run up and hit me before. I spun my tires alittle bit while making a u turn to follow them. Overall, I followed them through neighborhoods for about 15 or 20 minutes. I lost them when they went through someones front yard fence locking up there tires around a corner. I wasn't able to make the corner, but wasn't about to wreck my car either so I went around to the next street and couldn't see them. The whole time I followed them, they didn't have there head lights on, and kept parking behind parked cars after corners. Then they would turn around very slowly, I guess hoping I would lose them. It worked going around the corner this time.

I went back out to the main road and waited to the police to get there. I know there is only one or two roads out of the neighborhood, and the officer didn't really seem to care where they were or were last. He followed me out to my apartment where I filled out a police report and showed him who's truck it was.

Buy long story short, It was fairly stupid to follow them around. If one of them would have had a gun or knife when I ended up stopped that could have been it. Last night while I couldn't fall asleep I decided next time I'm just going to get there plate and call police.

I averaged 4.9 mpg while chasing them. If I would have had the new engine in that car, I would have been quite a bit faster then them. The only reason I lost them is because I wasn't going to go flying over speed bumps and stuff. Now I almost wish I did. The cadilac looked like around a 97 eldorodo? I don't know alot about cadilacs, but it had a northstar emblem on the back, and said v-8 on it. I'm really suprised I was even pretend able to keep up with them.

I didn't actually get hurt, the guy couldn't hit at all. My wife hits me harder when I piss her off, and she's 5'2". More or less no harm done, the guy still has his truck, minus a ingnition lock, I didn't get hurt, and nor did my car. I know it was a stupid thing to do. I really wish I would of thought about it ahead of time.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #1 – March 21, 2009, 05:44:15 PM

I'm never moving to Utah.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #2 – March 21, 2009, 06:14:01 PM

Glad to hear you, your friend, and both vehicles are safe and sound. I do have to say that I would've done the same thing..followed them and tried to get their plate number. We're a pretty tight knit neighborhood around here and being on a dead-end street makes it easier to know who is/isn't supposed to be here.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #3 – March 21, 2009, 07:15:54 PM

Glad to see you're safe, though yes, following them after you had the full plate and car description wasn't really smart. Here around Philly, it's a safe bet that the perp(s) would have had one or more guns and would have been just as glad to put you down. Heck, I would have expected them to fire at you while you were following them.

As long as the Caddy wasn't stolen, it should be a simple matter for the police to look up the plates and get an address. They might ask you to pick out the guys in a lineup, so be prepared for that. If you're really interested in nailing those guys, you should get in touch with the truck's owner to see if he is making sure that the police follow up. They have all the information they would need, so there's no reason for them not to. They have a plate, a car description, a perp description, two eyewitnesses, and battery charges on top of that.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #4 – March 21, 2009, 07:29:37 PM

Quote from: cougarcragar;263067

I'm never moving to Utah.

shiznit man, it ain't just Utah...little towns like the one I live near with 175 people have violent crimes anymore.

I knew a guy that actually had an attempted carjacking done to him while he was sitting waiting on a red light.
All I'm gonna say is...in the hands of responsible, law abiding citizens, concealed carry is a good deterrent. He pulled his safety tool out, and the would-be perp, decided on the spot that he could jack a different car.

My buddy is a pretty nice guy...I woulda laid the barrel across his eyebrow about 3 times.

Haystack..you're lucky bro...they very well could loosed some rounds at ya.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #5 – March 21, 2009, 07:30:24 PM

Quote

I averaged 4.9 mpg while chasing them.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #6 – March 21, 2009, 07:52:34 PM

Do you have any mods?
Eldorados look about the same from about 93' to 02' (I'm pretty sure the 92's were 4.9 only). If it was an ETC, Eldorado Touring Coupe, it had the vin-9 295/300HP northstar. Now I'm not going to make a big deal of it, but I do know that Sevilles and Eldorados are quick cars. So quick in fact that lightly modded auto fox cars and SN95 GTs fall victim. Either northstar car will walk off and leave a Cougar or T-bird sitting in the wake, unless they've got more than a HO conversion or something is wrong with the Eldorado. So unless you've got a pretty decent list of mods, something was either wrong with his car or he wasn't trying to get away. Think about it, he could have been trying to lead you somewhere....
All of this info on northstar caddys comes from experience, my brother drives one. The only break you might catch is if it's got the 112 or 130MPH fuel cutoff, if it's z-rated you've got no chance in hell (no limiter, will peg the 150MPH speedo). BTW, the cars limiters were set based on which tires they were bought/ordered with, this information is visible in the driver's side door jamb.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #7 – March 21, 2009, 08:41:23 PM

Unless the Caddy has had the snot beat out of it on a regular basis, they tend to get alot slower when there wore the hell out.

Agree, dumb move on following them but atleast your ok. Where at in Utah are you if you dont mind me askin? I got some family just south of Price.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #8 – March 21, 2009, 08:49:35 PM

I doubt they were trying to lead me somewhere. They wouldn't have stopped and hit me if they had a gun, however I wasn't looking for a fight. Just trying to do the right thing. They guy didn't know how to drive, and the caddi had alot more roll through all the turns then my bird did. I wasn't right on him the whole time. I was probably 2 to 3 blocks behind him most of the time. If we didn't have a grid system I would have lost him after the first turn.

Bone stock, 147,000 miles with bad tires. However, I gained alot on him through the turns. I wasn't going to go flying over gutters at 80+mph like he did, otherwise I wouldn't have lost him. These cars aren't exactly fast, but they are fun to drive hard. He lost control several times because he was going way to fast. I didn't. I filled up with a full tank of gas and cleared out my trip while I was sitting stopped right before it happened to. Some times I really think it would be fun to be a cop. I really do. If the officers wouldn't have taken 20 minutes, they would have been right there too. I passed two cops stopped at the 7-11 less then a mile from my house spinning a tire running a red light.

It almost bothers me that they didn't drive through the neighborhood where I lost them. I went out to the main road cause I know theres only 2 maybe 3 streets out of the neighborhood because its in a corner near a strip mall and next to a freeway. They were pretty well boxed in the way I saw it.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #9 – March 21, 2009, 08:52:45 PM

I live in west valley. I know the cities and street around here very well. I do cable construction for a sub contractor. Price is a little ways out, but I do find my way down there every so often. This sort of thing isn't really common around here. First time I have known someone who's car has been stolen. I've had my car "broke" into, but it was really my wife forgot to lock the door after she bought groceries. They stole a $100 craftsman tool set and a 12 pack of gatoraid.

Whats really funny, is I was cleaning out my car after waiting on the cops, and I found some of my work stuff in the back seat. I had a 3 foot crow bar and a blow torch in the back seat under my jacket. It was a fairly dumb thing to do, but it was fun and I at least stopped someone from stealing a truck. I really want to get the rest of the H.O. stuff I need now. I got a brand new 10 mile 87 mustang block with e7 heads sitting in my father in laws garage. I have the extra engine from my last car. The last tbird I bought had bad bottom end so I decided to throw it in. After that the tranny went out. The junkyard wanted $400 for a tested good tranny, so I bought a new car for $400 instead and pulled out my old motor and sold the old car for $100 to a mustang guy.

This car needs more get up and go. I test my cars on a hill near my house to see how fast they are. My old 86 cat hit around 76 mph on the hill. My dad's 86 hit 71 and my older 87 v-6 hit 62. This car hit 64.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #10 – March 21, 2009, 09:58:00 PM

Wow man, THAT is a story.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #11 – March 21, 2009, 11:00:48 PM

Glad to hear youre ok man,.........
(playin gt, and smokin cigarettes) cough cough........

I had a different night last night...

Reply #12 – March 22, 2009, 12:45:02 AM

Quote from: 88FoxBird;263098

Unless the Caddy has had the snot beat out of it on a regular basis, they tend to get alot slower when there wore the hell out.

lol, not Northstars. Northstars have problems with excessive carbon buildup which consequently leads to headgasket failure (or so the theories go). Headgasket failure is a very common problem on Northstars, which many shops are now trying to link to DexCool coolant also. Northstars love to run and most owners routinely go WOT to keep the carbon buildup and oil consumption to a minimum. I've seen 50k mile Northstars with headgasket problems, whether dexcool or carbon buildup are the cause: who knows? But I do know that I've never seen a northstar that was run hard get any slower. In fact it's frowned upon that Northstars are run softly.
My brother's car has 197k miles and hasn't had hardly one easy mile put on it for near 100k miles. I'm not sure of alot of things, but wearing a N* out would take some hard abuse and I'm talking about neglecting to change the oil and never carrying out normal maintenence. Two things I'm sure you would have noticed being behind him.
Northstar's bottem ends are bullet-proof, this has been said countless times. It wasn't put on Ward's 10 Best Engines list in 93',95', 96', and 97' for nothing.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. If it didn't say ETC on the back it was a normal, ole' Eldorado with the 270/275HP engine. What fuels this is the fact that you said the car had body roll. If it was a significant amount, like it sounds, this wouldn't have been present on an ETC as they have a firmer ride. My bros STS has virtually no body roll, unlike some of the springy Devilles I've been in. The normal Eldorados, Sevilles (SLS), and Devilles have a softer ride as they were meant to please the non-sport oriented community (IE: People that wanted a luxury car). I could be wrong and he could've just had busted struts and leaky airbags in the rear, but FWD caddys do handle pretty good for what they are, by this I mean the STS and ETC. Otherwise you're looking at a basic people mover with springy suspension, lower gearing, and a less performance oriented engine.
If you can further describe the car I might be able to figure out what year it was. They changed rims a few times and a few exterior components were also changed. The same basic body was used throughout the cars last redesign (92'-02'), but the 92' was 4.9 only so it wasn't a 92'. If it wasn't an ETC then it wasn't a 93' either, since the base model came with a 4.9 still. In 94' the base was equipt with the 270HP northstar. The 94's had huge chrome/black bodyside molding, if it had body color side molding it was atleast a 95'. If it was a base model it should have had a chrome/silver grill too.

No matter the ordeal it's good to hear everything turned out alright. This situation could've turned out bad in alot of ways, but you got lucky. What you did sounds alot like what I would've done if put in the same position as I tend to have a hard time letting things go. I wouldn't have quit until I atleast had a tag number. You do have to be careful these days, what with people going crazy with guns and all.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #13 – March 22, 2009, 01:35:50 AM

Too close of a call for my blood. You know that already,, wife and stuff,,, you got a lot more to loose than a truck that belongs to someone else.

In a way, I get what you were doing but dont do it again. The cops pick and choose what calls they can respond to. Hell, maybe dispatch never got the word out in time, who knows.

Nothing stopping you from becoming a cop,, seems like theres room in the stimulus package for police force expansion. Something to think about, maybe act on since you think it might be a good idea. From what I hear, its become so difficult to be a good cop anymore that you just end up doing the job the best you can hoping to play the game of the time in order to keep out of the spot light. Either way, the position demands a lot of self control , flexibility and disipline.

I had a different night last night...

Reply #14 – March 22, 2009, 01:50:49 AM

Quote

The cops pick and choose what calls they can respond to

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