FL: Car thief foiled

[seamusTX]

In Lake City, Florida, Friday, car owners received a warning from their neighbor that someone was tampering with their car. The couple went out and found a man in the vehicle, apparently trying to start it. When the man tried to flee, the car owner locked the doors with the remote key. The owners kept the man in the vehicle until deputies arrived and arrested him.

An accomplice was arrested later in the day.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/2010 ... 9653?tc=ar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[davidtx]

In Lake City, Florida, Friday, car owners received a warning from their neighbor that someone was tampering with their car. The couple went out and found a man in the vehicle, apparently trying to start it. When the man tried to flee, the car owner locked the doors with the remote key. The owners kept the man in the vehicle until deputies arrived and arrested him.

An accomplice was arrested later in the day.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/2010 ... 9653?tc=ar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

- Jim

[WestTexan]

kept him locked in with the remote...

[Gearheart]

I got a chuckle out of that.

I just hope the bad guy doesn't get any ideas about suing the owner for wrongful imprisonment.

[seamusTX]

I don't know Florida law, but I can't imagine a jury in a rural area (which is where this incident happened) that wouldn't fall out of their chairs laughing at the dweeb if such a case got to court.

Under Texas law, this would have been a legitimate arrest for a felony (PC 31.07, attempted unauthorized use of a motor vehicle).

- Jim

[Excaliber]

Good thing the thief didn't figure out that those clear panels he was looking out through were made of readily breakable glass.........

[seamusTX]

It's not that easy to break a car window; and once the window is broken, it's dangerous to try to climb through the opening.

This guy doesn't look like a "big idea" man in any case.

- Jim

[ELB]

Some thoughts:

Capturing the guy in the car with the electronic fob sounds like a movie gag, something Paul Blart would do.

Breaking side window glass, like most things, is not hard if you know what to do. But if you don't, you can knock your self silly trying to do it.

And yes you can cut yourself on the glass pieces from side windows, but they do break up rather nicely into very small chunks that are not terribly lethal. I have treated a few car accident victims who have been scratched by the side (and windshield) glass -- some of them found it a bit painful, but really they were only surface scratches. The force of smacking your head on the side or windshied glass is what causes problems.

If I were faced with the prospect of having to explain to my murderous/violent/psycho cellmates that I was captured by an electronic key fob or facing the risk of minor abrasions from going out the broken side window, I know what I would choose...

[Excaliber]

It's not that easy to break a car window; and once the window is broken, it's dangerous to try to climb through the opening.

This guy doesn't look like a "big idea" man in any case.

- Jim

The windshield and rear window are very difficult to break because they contain an inner plastic sheet to keep them from shattering. The side windows are tempered glass, which has a hardened surface. Any penetration of that surface will cause the entire window to shatter into crumbs of about 3/8" diameter on average. You often see this material in parking lots where thieves have broken a side window to gain access, and at accident scenes. The edges can cut you some, but not severely like a piece of broken window pane can. There usually isn't much left in the window opening after the break, and if there is any, it's easy to brush out before climbing through if you need to.

It takes either a strong impact or an impact from a sharp point (like a spring loaded center punch) to make the initial penetration, but it's not hard to do. Lots of prisoners have taken out the rear side windows of patrol cars by lying back on the seat and kicking at them.

[cougartex]

[Target1911]

Due to the slight curve of most door glass, it can be very hard to break one from the outside. I have hit one several times with a ball peen hammer before it broke. But hitting one from the inside take much less force due to the now outward curve of the glass.

[dcphoto]

It's actually simple to break curved window glass. While glass is a brittle material, it does have some flex, so when you hit it in the center with anything it won't easily break. If you hit it near an edge it's much easier to break.

[longhorn_92]

BaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!