A truck thief led police on a wild chase on Thursday and at one point even took off with the truck’s owner in the vehicle bed.
VicPD say that the incident began just before 8 a.m. on Thursday when they were called to a report of a vehicle theft in the 900-block of Green Street.
The male victim said he was on his way to work and left his truck running outside of his home while he went back inside to retrieve a forgotten item. While he was inside, he heard the sound of his truck being backed out and went outside to find a man driving his truck away.
The truck owner flagged down a pair of VicPD volunteer Reserve Constables who happened to be on patrol in the area, and the constables called in the report.
VicPD says that while their officers searched for the stolen vehicle, the victim and his partner also decided to look for the truck. A short time later, the victim and his partner spotted the truck in the 800-block of Mason Street.
The victim approached and spoke with a man outside of the vehicle who was sorting through work tools the victim normally kept in the truck. The victim then noticed a second man nearby who was in possession of some of his property, and approached the second man.
While the victim was distracted the first man got into the truck and took off.
The victim ran to the truck and grabbed onto it, and was dragged for several blocks before he was able to pull himself into the bed. The victim’s partner followed the truck in her own vehicle.
VicPD say that the suspect started to drive erratically in what they believe was an attempt to throw the victim from the truck bed.
As the car wove through downtown— at one point driving down a sidewalk and at another point driving against traffic on Bay Street—the victim called out to passersby for help. Several people called 911.
The suspect finally got out of the vehicle and fled at the intersection of Bay and Blanshard. The victim was able to climb from the bed into the cab of the still-moving vehicle and brought it to a stop.
The truck owner then chased down the suspect and held him with the assistance of passersby until police arrived.
VicPD say that luckily no one was injured.
Police are asking that anyone with video or information of the incidents call the non-emergency line at 250-995-7654 and select option 1 for the report desk.
