‘Criminal justice student Jordan Dinsmore, 20, of Columbia, South Carolina, had her car’s manual transmission to thank for her safe escape on July 26.
Three men approached her around 1 a.m. and pointed a gun at her. After robbing her of her phone and purse, the men forced her into her car, threatening to kidnap
and rape her, but when they realized none of them knew how to drive her stick-shift car, one of the criminals ran away. The other two forced Dinsmore to drive to
an ATM to withdraw cash. As she drove, Dinsmore removed her seatbelt, then put the car in neutral and jumped out, screaming, “Call 911! Call 911!” to passing
motorists. The Richland County Sheriff’s Department arrested a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old in the kidnapping and robbery. [ABC News 4, 7/28/2017]’
Outstanding!!!
Hats off to the lady.
That’s probably the worst crime I’ve heard thwarted by a manual tranny. There have been many stolen car attempts, regular theft and carjackings, prevented because the perp couldn’t drive a stick.
Cute story. That’s one reason to drive a “manual.”
I suppose it’s like wearing a parachute whenever you fly on the airlines or wearing a life jacket while on an ocean cruise… good idea, but you have to put up with it during the troublesome non-emergency times. Those times when you’re trying to have fun or relax.
I’ll take my chance with my automatics, thanks! Need be, I’ll carry one of my firearms.
I drove manual transmission cars for years and years and I’m not going back anytime soon!
CSA
Also keeps a lot of people from wanting to borrow your pickup truck to move stuff.
Anyone who has ever owned a pickup truck knows what I’m talking about, everybody becomes your “friend” when you have a pickup truck.
I’m surprised they got those lazy Richland Count police to do anything.
I am also very happy that the woman escaped from the criminal creeps.
Here’s what I’m concerned about . . .
those guys were under 18 years of age, so they might get off with a short stint in juvenile hall
But in my opinion, these guys are already WELL down the road to a life of crime, violence, abuse, etc.
What made you say that?
Experience. My daughter went to the University of South Carolina. Columbia is in Richland County. She and three friends lived in a house near campus. While at a football game, a few criminals broke in, stole electronics, and then stole her car. The keys were on the kitchen counter. They found the burglary when they returned. Our daughter called us immediately and called the police. We called OnStar and within 45 minutes of call, they located the car and contacted the police. The police had not even started looking for the car, and weren’t in a hurry to do anything about this crime. As a result of the crime, the ladies got in contact with a few other people that had similar experiences in Columbia. In all cases, they police were unresponsive and never discovered anything on their own. A totally disappointing performance.
Oh, it’s in THAT county!
I still have vivid recollections from my teen years of driving through the Columbia area on the way to Florida. Because I-95 hadn’t yet been completed, I have to assume that we were on Route 1. As we entered that county, there was the largest billboard that I have ever seen (visualize something the size of perhaps 4 of the usual billboards) on the side of the highway.
On the billboard were giant images of a man wearing a white sheet and hood, and a burning cross, and the verbiage on the billboard was, You are now in Klan Country. Act accordingly.
Truly chilling.
I had two cars stolen back in the '80s, both automatics.
A '76 Chevy Nova, the perp lived in it a couple weeks before wrecking it running from the police.
An '85 Accord SEi, first fuel injected Honda model in the US, never recovered.
The Honda had “the Club” on it.
It’s been all stick shifts since then.
Cute story ??? There is nothing cute about it. A person could have been seriously injured or worse.
I never encountered that.
I’m guessing that the billboard in question had been taken-down by the time that your daughter got to college.
I saw it first in 1966 or '67, and again in 1969 or '70.
She graduated from USC four years ago. I used to go to SC frequently to see my father’s family. He grew up there. I never saw a sign that was blatantly racist, though I know that racism was more prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s when we went there a couple of times each year.
There is a religiously affiliated university in Greenville that used to bar blacks from admisssion for religious reasons. They since admitted they were wrong and admit people regardless of race. My cousin used to laugh at them for their bigoted ways. My father was a bigot, but didn’t want to harm anyone
I believe the earlier comments that they’ll just be turned back out on the street to do it again are a major contributor to the problem. Our criminal laws need to change. The violators in question are criminals, period. And the lady was, in my opinion, violated. She’ll carry this terror with her for the rest of her life. Thank God she had a manual.
I drove manuals as my main vehicles right up until I got my current 2005. I only got an automatic (I still call them “slushes”) because of degenerative medical issues, but I still prefer manual trannys. Unfortunately (or, in the case of the young lady, fortunately) manual trannys are fast becoming a thing of the past. There aren’t a whole lot of working-class cars left with manuals as an option.
I think banks should provide their ATM customers with an alternative pin code that makes – from what the screen says – it look like the ATM network is down, and at the same time take photos & alert police to an ATM-based theft in progress.
Interesting ideas. Perhaps a button that a person can push immediately preceding their pin number that posts the “out of order” comment you suggested and alerts the bank’s security and automatically saves a video of the people in the transaction.
I am going to disagree about the secret code. Would it be best to just get the money and hope they take it and your vehicle and go away or have them get really mad because they think you messed up the withdrawal on purpose while having a loaded gun pointed at you. The most they could get out of my checking account is $500.00 and the vehicle is insured.