Naaaah, we want you to shut us down again. 
2 Likes
There is a difference between justice and Karma. Cat theif car falling is not justice as that is defined by the legal system imhop
I guess some of us will just have to agree to disagree
Personally, I feel the thief got what he deserved. Cat thieves just make life more difficult for almost everybody else, as far as Iâm concerned.
Some of us seem to be concerned that the thiefâs punishment was harsh . . .
Well, he created the situation
Thereâs absolutely nobody else to blame
If youâre going to crawl under a car, use a jack and a jack stand . . . and NOT harbor fake
The term petty theft was used . . . I disagree somewhat
Iâll bet you guys lunch that thief stole several cats . . . probably hundreds . . . which were worth several thousand dollars
Itâs even conceivable that in some cases, the stolen cat was the straw that broke the camelâs back, meaning than on an older car that wasnât worth much and not well insured, the owner decided that it was time to get rid of it and buy another. Itâs one thing to buy another car because you want to. Itâs quite something else to suddenly be in a position to more or less be forced to.
3 Likes
Perhaps the buyers of scrap converters should be required to collect information (like VIN of the donor vehicle) from the sellers, much the same as pawn shops.
7 Likes
Local salvage buyers photo my freon license and DL number to buy condensers and evaporators due to the high price of aluminum and copper. And 100 lbs of AC parts is worth more than a wagon load of iron.
2 Likes
Iâm in the kind of unusual situation of partially agreeing with both sides here. No, I donât think a cat thief âdeservesâ to die for stealing a car part. I donât celebrate the fact that he died, and Iâd be much happier with an outcome where he was caught and dealt with appropriately via the justice system than I am with him getting himself killed.
But Iâm also not going to lose a whole lot of sleep over it; Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This wasnât a miscarriage of justice, because his own actions caused his death before the justice system could do anything. It was an unfortunate (for him) accident that was a direct result of his criminal activity.
I also sympathize with the notion that itâs possible (though not certain by any means) that the thief was hard-up, and was stealing in order to put food on the table. On the other hand, I equally sympathize with the idea that the vehicle owner might be hard-up, and having to pay for a cat replacement will make it hard for that guy to put food on the table.
I think the solution to those possibilities is neither to look kindly on stealing, nor to celebrate when a thief dies while stealing. The solution to that is to revamp our societal system such that the richest country on the planet doesnât have people who are in the position where they arenât sure they can put food on the table.
And no, thatâs not socialist advocacy, because Iâm not a socialist. itâs advocacy for a recognition that a country that has, compared to the rest of the world, an obscene level of resources should be able to find a way for everyone to have a minimum standard of comfort and care. No oneâs saying buy the thief a Rolls or put him up in a Bel Air mansion but if he really was stealing out of poverty, maybe if he had a small, decent place to live and enough food/necessities, he wouldnât have stolen in the first place.
9 Likes
Another possible deterrent would be serial numbers on converters, which salvage buyers would be required to record and report to authorities.
4 Likes
This is a key point⊠The converter thief valued the converter more than they valued their own life. That risk was solely the decision of the thief.
Iâm my experience (sitting for 3 months serving Grand Jury Duty hearing a dozen cases a day) the thief is far more likely not desperately poor as desperately lazy. It is easier to steal convertors than to work a real job. Work is hard. Stealing converters is not. I think the data backs that up as it does not mirror the unemployment rate.
2 Likes
Are you sure the thief adequately considered the possibility of his death? Iâm not. Lots of people have short horizons, and I mean really short. Remember when you were a teen and didnât consider alternatives if that fun thing you wanted to do turned out badly? Some people never outgrow that phase.
6 Likes
I donât actually care if they did or did not consider the consequences. Truth is likely that they didnât consider ANY consequences, death or jail time. To their peril, as it turned out.
That is pretty much one of the character traits that define a thief, isnât it? A few more might be lack of impulse control, lack of respect for othersâ property, lack of empathy and, entitlement.
Iâd suggest you donât outgrow those traits so much as have them taught to you as you grow up.
3 Likes
Iâm not going to lose sleep over him either. Just presenting an alternative.
4 Likes
I donât even think it would be a horizon issue. A lot of people, including perfectly honest ones who would never steal anything, donât recognize the danger of floor jacks used without jack stands. He probably didnât consider the possibility of dying because it simply wouldnât have registered as a danger.
Regardless, like I said, Iâm not going to spend a lot of time being sad that the bad thing he was doing got him killed because itâs something that wouldnât have happened if he hadnât decided to be a criminal, but I donât think he deserved to die for it, and itâs not something I feel the need to cheer over either.
4 Likes
I used to work with a woman who was absolutely gleeful on any morning when the news media reported that Capital Punishment was being carried out that day. She had no connection whatsoever with any of these cases, andâin most instancesâdidnât even know the particulars of the case. She was simply filled with glee by any report of somebody being âfriedâ or âgassedâ that day.
Her joy at the prospect of a person being executed was⊠creepy⊠to say the least.
When I presented information such as thisâŠ
8 People Who Were Executed and Later Found Innocent - AvvoStories
⊠her response was⊠âOh, I never thought of that!â.
Hmmm⊠
2 Likes
Thatâs where EBay and other on-line sites comes into play.
Yeah weâll get back to cars soon but donât discount the psychology of some of these younger folks. They (meaning some) have little concern for their safety or death and have already concluded they will die young so what the hey. Whether or not this was the case with the guy (girl?) under the car, it certainly is a possibility.
Now I knew a guy like that if we are relating to particular people. As a young lad, he had no concern for his own safety as he ventured out on thin ice to pull me out. Later on he killed someone driving 80 in a 30 and did his time. Later in life he died falling off a roof. Just had no filter for safety. I will add that about 7th grade his folks sent him to a psychologist to try and get his head re-wired but he just laughed it off.
3 Likes
Anyone? Cars? Thanks, and happy weekend.
Speaking of cars, Carolyn, I saw a 1958 Cadillac convertible today that would look even lovelier with you in it!
Itâs been almost 20 years now. A local 15 year old âborrowedâ the keys to his mothers Mazda 6 and got 7 of his friends, four boys and three girls ranging in age from 14 -16 and took them for a ride at around 2 AM.
Now had the police stopped him, he and his friends would have been in a lot of trouble. I donât know about the friends, but when the judge got through with this kid, his folks would have really wore him out, if you know what I mean.
He would have been angry and maybe a little bitter at the time to the cops and his parents. He was a good kid and he would have gotten over it. But he didnât get caught. BTW, no drinking or drugs were involved here, just a joy ride.
But the joy ride took them to thrill hill where he did a Dukes of Hazards jump at around 100 mph. Of course with that many kids in the vehicle, no one wore seat belts, all the kids bouncing around the interior as the vehicle went airborn. He was unable to control the landing because he wasnât firmly behind the wheel.
Was it justice that all eight died almost instantly when the car hit a very large old Oak tree? Did they deserve that? Kids do this all the time, most only get a slap on the wrist by a judge if they get caught. Often they get away with it.
Sometimes it isnât justice, itâs just the luck of the draw. Wrong place, wrong time. Sometimes it the law of physics that punishes instead of the laws of man.
3 Likes
I find it remarkable that this thief died under a Prius for two reasons.
First, it seems like most converter thefts are from SUVs and trucks with high ground clearance; opposite of a Prius.
Second, the Prius has a reputation of being a wimpy little car, not a killer.
1 Like
Many years ago a friendâs teen aged son took the family car out for a drive at age 14 and over shot a turn and smacking a car parked at the curb which resulted in pushing a tire off the rim. The police got there in just minutes before mom who walked directly up to the boy and slapped him so hard he nearly fell down. After a few minutes of chewing the boy out she would slap him again and the police put him in the back seat of a patrol car and took him down town for his own safety. He spent the night at juvenile detention and the next morning the judge released him to his mothers custody once she assured the court that she would not physically abuse the boy. It seems that was a learning moment for that son and his two brothers.
The terrible problem now is that a parent like that would be put in jail for abuse.
1 Like