Two criminals staged an accident to set up an armed robbery in the 4100 block of Swarthmore St. at about 3:30 am last Sunday morning.
A woman was driving her friend to his home in West University Place when a white pickup truck struck her vehicle. The crooks brandished handguns and ordered the man and woman out of the car.
They took her purse, their wallets and cellphones, then drove off, taking both cars, leaving the victims to walk home to call 911.
Because the stolen car was equipped with OnStar, it was located about two hours later in the 3700 block of Burkett St.
All OnStar-equipped vehicles have stolen vehicle tracking, which provides the police with the vehicle’s exact location.
The crooks are also suspects in two similar crimes committed in Houston that same morning.
WU police suggest that you call 911 immediately if you are in a similar situation and drive straight to the police department at 3800 University Blvd.
Selby says
Driving straight to the police station is a little tough if the thrives take your car!
Robert Olmstead says
I think the idea is to drive to the Police Station immediately after the collision but before speaking with the other driver. I suppose, at the very least, the driver ought to call 911 before exiting the vehicle.
Anonymous' Friend says
What do you expect from crazy driver? Stop and write an apology? Why would you hold police chief accountable for a random act of violence?
We live in the 4th largest city in America and its just a fact of life that these things occur.
Our police do an outstanding job protecting us and limiting these occurrences so let’s give them some credit.
George Boehme says
The original post said Southwestern Blvd. It was actually Swarthmore St. Sorry.
One thing that I have done is put the West U Police in the contacts of my phone. Then if somebody hits your car - just use voice commands, “Hey Siri, call West U Police.” I’m sure Android has a way to do this, too. In this case, the criminals were counting on the victims not being prepared. But technology can be a great equalizer.
The police (and fire department, too) cannot be everywhere…but they can be anywhere really quickly. My experience is that WUPD and WUFD response times are around 2 minutes.