What did they expect her to do???

[FishermanTim]

"Woman takes car back from car thief"

WINTHROP, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) – A Winthrop woman, whose car was stolen, took matters into her own hands to get it back.

Lisa told FOX 25 she noticed her car was missing from her driveway early Tuesday morning. She reported the incident to police, but they told her there wasn't much they could do until it turned up.

"I was really frustrated it was like, ‘OK, either it will turn up or it won't," said Lisa.

Thinking all hope was lost, Lisa called E-ZPass to have her transponder shut off. During the call, a representative from E-ZPass told her it had been used Thursday morning on the Tobin Bridge.

A short time later, a woman in Chelsea called Lisa and said she had found some of her personal items on the street, including her purse. When Lisa retrieved the items, among them was a Garmin GPS unit that wasn't hers. She said she found out through Garmin how to download data showing where the car had been.

"The GPS said it had been on these two particular streets in Chelsea," said Lisa.

At that point, Lisa's sister, Kathleen, and a friend decided to go to the streets in Chelsea with a key to the vehicle and hit the panic button.

"A half hour later she called me like a maniac and said, ‘I'm in your car, what do you want me to do?' I said ‘Bring it to the Winthrop police,'" Lisa said.

She said Winthrop police told her it was a mistake to go retrieve the car, saying she should have called Chelsea police.

"Honestly, neither of us had even thought about it. I was just like, ‘Oh my God! You got my car back, that's awesome!'"

Lisa said there was some damage to the car, but she was happy to have it back.


So the Winthrop police tell her that they can't do anything until the vehicle "shows up", and then they tell her she's wrong because she was able to find her car on her own????

Must be the "Martha Coakley school of self help" graduate working for Winthrop.

Of course there is the possibility that they would be confronted by the thief, but we are talking Chelsea here and we all know that Chelsea criminals have no spine.

[tysdad115]

"What was she supposed to do ? " - Nothing, just sit there and be a good victim. I'll be surprised if the thief doesn't sue her and win for stealing their GPS. This state gives more rights to criminals than it's law obiding citizens.

[Redsoxticket]

The best approach would have been to call the police once the car was found. You never know if the car was used in a felony ranging from burglary to murder. If it was me I would have removed the ignition coil wire(s) before calling the cops.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[likwid]

Originally Posted by Redsoxticket

The best approach would have been to call the police once the car was found. You never know if the car was used in a felony ranging from burglary to murder. If it was me I would have removed the ignition coil wire(s) before calling the cops.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Slash own tires. Claim who stole it did it. File claim. Get new tires.

[The Dad Fisherman]

She should have called the Chelsea police after she found the car...

Kudos to her for doing the leg work and finding her car, that part is awesome...but sending her sister to the streets of Chelsea to retreive the car was idiotic. Just what was her sister going to do if the guy that stole the car happened to catch her in it?