Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 15, 1993 TAG: 9304150243
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
CHASE GETS BACK MATE'S STOLEN CAR
A woman who chased down and recovered her husband's stolen car says the experience left her with dueling emotions."I found out I can do more than I thought I was capable of," said the woman, who spoke with The Virginian-Pilot on the condition she not be identified. "Then I was thinking, `Boy, was I stupid.' "
Norfolk police on Tuesday confirmed the woman's story about how she recovered the 1987 Isuzu.
The car was swiped last Wednesday afternoon from in front of the family's home in a Navy neighborhood. Police told her the car probably would turn up abandoned in a day or two. When it didn't, the woman figured it was gone for good.
"I was mad," said the woman, a 36-year-old mother of three. "My feeling was we bought this car, we paid for this car when we barely had two nickels to rub together, and someone takes it. I felt violated."
At 10 p.m. Saturday, the woman was driving home in her family's other car, a Plymouth, when she noticed the license plate of the missing car. As she kept it within sight, she recalled old television police shows, wondering what she should do. She wished for a car phone, and she thought about the chemical spray on her key ring. Then she realized what she really wanted to do.
"I didn't want to let my car go," she said.
When the stolen car sped up, she simply reacted. "My car, I knew, could go faster and I just floored it and went after them," she said.
After several minutes of 50-mph driving through residential neighborhoods, the stolen car zoomed into a dead-end parking lot, the woman still on its tail. "I thought, `Oh my God, I've got them! Now what do I do?' "
She didn't have to do anything. The three guys in the car bailed out and scattered.