A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found!
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From: Kansas City
A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found!
Where do I start? My car was stolen 3 days ago when I was at the Chiefs Monday Night Football game. The original story is here: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1064438
Tuesday morning, when I called to cancel my credit card, I found out the thieves used it late Monday night to buy a couple tanks of gas at 2 gas stations in Independence, a suburb of KC. I passed the info along to the police and began patroling ebay and various classified websites for stolen ITR parts.
Around lunch today, a friend calls me up. He has a buddy who works as dispatcher for another local police department in KC. Apparently, a civilian reported a “black integra” with my license plate driving erratically Tuesday night around 6pm. The police didn’t give it much thought at the time because my car’s license plate had not yet been entered into the database as stolen. The police officer who took my incident report Monday night only entered the car’s VIN number; he didn’t enter my plate as stolen because I wasn’t able to tell him if the annual registration sticker that’s on the plate was for ’05 or ’06 :thumbsdown: (we have the option in Missouri to register for 1 or 2 years in advance). That’s the reason I was given for why my plate wasn’t listed as stolen.
Anyway, the dispatcher knows me and my ITR - he recognized my plate, so he called my other friend and told him that my car was identified last night. When my friend called and told me this, I jumped in my truck and raced out to that area of town, just to randomly patrol the “cruising” strips. On the way there, I called the police department and demanded that my license plate be entered as stolen immediately so other municipalities could identify my plates as stolen.
I arrived in Independence, MO around 2pm today; my Dad offered to help ride with me to give me an extra set of eyes. He came over shortly, and we started going up and down the streets. We turned into an area high school parking lot on a hunch, but didn’t see the car. As we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot back onto the road, I hear a loud, familiar exhaust and I watch my R drive RIGHT PAST ME. We’re in my Dad’s car, so not fearing being recognized, we tail my R. We get 911 on the cell phone immediately and start calling out street names as we tail my car through traffic. The guy was doing 100+mph in spots, weaving around like a maniac. That was pretty scary because he was driving so wildly and didn’t even know he was being followed. After about 15 minutes, the police finally crossed our paths and took the lead, and the real chase was on.
The chase went into a housing development, where we lost the R. The police had enough cars swarming in the area, though, that they didn’t lose track of the R. After about 5 minutes of police pursuit, the guy pulled over and ran for it. That started the foot pursuit. About 5 police cars were swarming a 4-5 block grid looking for the guy (no passengers), and a police helicopter was overhead. Just like a scene from Cops! Dad and I just stayed put by my abandoned car. After 30 minutes, the police hadn't found the guy and the seemed to give up; I called the tow truck.
The engine is blown. There’s oil on the underside of the hood and the dipstick is dry. I saw lots of smoke coming out of the exhaust, it looks pretty bad. I didn’t notice any damage to the body, which is amazing considering the 360 degree spins that the officers told me about from the chase. I think he caused a few minor traffic accidents during the chase. I had the R towed to a friend’s house until I can assess the damage in more detail later this weekend.
As Dad and I were driving home after dropping off my car, I got a call on my cell phone. It’s the dispatcher/friend who called earlier and got me going on the “manhunt.” He tells me that the police caught the driver and have him in custody!! I just now got home from Thanksgiving dinner with the family and found a message on my voice recorder from the police department verifying that they caught the guy and they want me to call them tomorrow, probably to give them a statement.
I’m still anxious for the police to catch his accomplices and find all my possessions that he stole from my home. However, I’d call this a pretty good day’s work. Yeah the motor is blown, but at least I have her back!! Thank goodness for stupid thieves and :thumbsup: for vigilante justice. Just wanted to share the happy ending with everyone. I'll post more later on. I'm exhausted.
Tuesday morning, when I called to cancel my credit card, I found out the thieves used it late Monday night to buy a couple tanks of gas at 2 gas stations in Independence, a suburb of KC. I passed the info along to the police and began patroling ebay and various classified websites for stolen ITR parts.
Around lunch today, a friend calls me up. He has a buddy who works as dispatcher for another local police department in KC. Apparently, a civilian reported a “black integra” with my license plate driving erratically Tuesday night around 6pm. The police didn’t give it much thought at the time because my car’s license plate had not yet been entered into the database as stolen. The police officer who took my incident report Monday night only entered the car’s VIN number; he didn’t enter my plate as stolen because I wasn’t able to tell him if the annual registration sticker that’s on the plate was for ’05 or ’06 :thumbsdown: (we have the option in Missouri to register for 1 or 2 years in advance). That’s the reason I was given for why my plate wasn’t listed as stolen.
Anyway, the dispatcher knows me and my ITR - he recognized my plate, so he called my other friend and told him that my car was identified last night. When my friend called and told me this, I jumped in my truck and raced out to that area of town, just to randomly patrol the “cruising” strips. On the way there, I called the police department and demanded that my license plate be entered as stolen immediately so other municipalities could identify my plates as stolen.
I arrived in Independence, MO around 2pm today; my Dad offered to help ride with me to give me an extra set of eyes. He came over shortly, and we started going up and down the streets. We turned into an area high school parking lot on a hunch, but didn’t see the car. As we were getting ready to pull out of the parking lot back onto the road, I hear a loud, familiar exhaust and I watch my R drive RIGHT PAST ME. We’re in my Dad’s car, so not fearing being recognized, we tail my R. We get 911 on the cell phone immediately and start calling out street names as we tail my car through traffic. The guy was doing 100+mph in spots, weaving around like a maniac. That was pretty scary because he was driving so wildly and didn’t even know he was being followed. After about 15 minutes, the police finally crossed our paths and took the lead, and the real chase was on.
The chase went into a housing development, where we lost the R. The police had enough cars swarming in the area, though, that they didn’t lose track of the R. After about 5 minutes of police pursuit, the guy pulled over and ran for it. That started the foot pursuit. About 5 police cars were swarming a 4-5 block grid looking for the guy (no passengers), and a police helicopter was overhead. Just like a scene from Cops! Dad and I just stayed put by my abandoned car. After 30 minutes, the police hadn't found the guy and the seemed to give up; I called the tow truck.
The engine is blown. There’s oil on the underside of the hood and the dipstick is dry. I saw lots of smoke coming out of the exhaust, it looks pretty bad. I didn’t notice any damage to the body, which is amazing considering the 360 degree spins that the officers told me about from the chase. I think he caused a few minor traffic accidents during the chase. I had the R towed to a friend’s house until I can assess the damage in more detail later this weekend.
As Dad and I were driving home after dropping off my car, I got a call on my cell phone. It’s the dispatcher/friend who called earlier and got me going on the “manhunt.” He tells me that the police caught the driver and have him in custody!! I just now got home from Thanksgiving dinner with the family and found a message on my voice recorder from the police department verifying that they caught the guy and they want me to call them tomorrow, probably to give them a statement.
I’m still anxious for the police to catch his accomplices and find all my possessions that he stole from my home. However, I’d call this a pretty good day’s work. Yeah the motor is blown, but at least I have her back!! Thank goodness for stupid thieves and :thumbsup: for vigilante justice. Just wanted to share the happy ending with everyone. I'll post more later on. I'm exhausted.
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (Batoutahell)
Good deal man. I'm happy for ya. Yeah it would suck to see ur R the way I found mine. So he stole it to joy ride it??? 
Good thing you got friends in high places LOL. Chalk one up for the good guys.
Good thing you got friends in high places LOL. Chalk one up for the good guys.
Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 5,695
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From: Chicagoland, usa
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (Banana Phone)
WOW.... I had just heard about this from Chris and Jay... couldn't believe it. We honestly started planning to keep an eye out for distinctive parts from your car 
aka: jrsc kit without jrsc filter.. just a dirty sock...
So happy for you, the motor part sucks... but you have it back!!!!
aka: jrsc kit without jrsc filter.. just a dirty sock...So happy for you, the motor part sucks... but you have it back!!!!
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 8,136
Likes: 2
From: kuidaore
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (Batoutahell)
ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY AWESOME! 
Just, uhh Oh wow, reading that gave me a shiver down my spine.
That's just awesome. Good for you.
It's always great to hear the good guys win. And even better that you got your car back in one piece albeit not perfect condition.
Follow the case and post up all the info if you could including local news or links to the story through your papers and or court charges, convictions. Show us a picture of this scumbag even.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Just, uhh Oh wow, reading that gave me a shiver down my spine.
That's just awesome. Good for you.
It's always great to hear the good guys win. And even better that you got your car back in one piece albeit not perfect condition.
Follow the case and post up all the info if you could including local news or links to the story through your papers and or court charges, convictions. Show us a picture of this scumbag even.
Happy Thanksgiving.
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Honda-Tech Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 5,838
Likes: 0
From: Greece
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (1GreyTeg)
wow, I'am truly amazed !
i can picture it all perfectly and vividly and its blowing my mind, simply AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE , etc
you are one LUCKY bastid, congrats and i hope the damage is not too extensive (both the body and engine) lets get a mug shot of this mental midget please, it'll be a classic.
to finish, a miracle indeed....
i can picture it all perfectly and vividly and its blowing my mind, simply AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE , etc
you are one LUCKY bastid, congrats and i hope the damage is not too extensive (both the body and engine) lets get a mug shot of this mental midget please, it'll be a classic.
to finish, a miracle indeed....
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Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 9,684
Likes: 1
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (Batoutahell)
wow.
you're very lucky and i hope you get to thank the guy who called it in!
take that guy and sue his parents for every little penny they have to replace the motor, and anything else you think he could have damaged while hes still dealing down from auto theft.
you're very lucky and i hope you get to thank the guy who called it in!
take that guy and sue his parents for every little penny they have to replace the motor, and anything else you think he could have damaged
while hes still dealing down from auto theft.
Thread Starter
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Joined: Apr 2000
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From: Kansas City
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (255.255.255.255)
Yes, I'm very thankful to friends in high places and "KC's finest." I'll continue that trend by calling up an ex-gf on Monday who is a prosecutor in KC to make sure this guy doesn't get any breaks. I can also say with a GREAT deal of certainty that the civil lawsuit against this guy will be filed before the fingerprinting ink wear off his fingertips!
Maybe next week I'll see what I can do to get the in-car video from the lead chase car. Anyone interested in seeing some footage of a successful hot pursuit of an ITR thief?
Maybe next week I'll see what I can do to get the in-car video from the lead chase car. Anyone interested in seeing some footage of a successful hot pursuit of an ITR thief?
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Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,699
Likes: 1
From: VA, USA
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (djSALIX)
That's awesome man. I can't imagine how it would feel to have you car stolen, let alone to find it after chasing the ******* thief down. Happy Thanksgiving indeed.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 9,925
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From: Milwaukee, WI, USA
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (1GreyTeg)
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 1GreyTeg »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY AWESOME! </TD></TR></TABLE>
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Truely a reason to give thanks today.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Batoutahell »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyone interested in seeing some footage of a successful hot pursuit of an ITR thief?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Hell yes!
</TD></TR></TABLE>Couldn't have said it better myself.
Truely a reason to give thanks today.
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Batoutahell »</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyone interested in seeing some footage of a successful hot pursuit of an ITR thief?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Hell yes!
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Joined: Oct 2002
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From: OLDSKOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
Re: A Thanksgiving Miracle: 00-0739 Found! (BlueR)
that is fantastic news...atleast you can rebuild now, rather than part out. this is the one area that i honestly feel which benefits from the infamous "i saw an itr at..." threads. even though this time it was a dispatcher who may have located the area of the car, next time it might be another member not knowing the help he just provided.
i bet your thanksgiving dinner tasted 10x better tonight with the good news
i bet your thanksgiving dinner tasted 10x better tonight with the good news
