2 Shelby GT500 Car Theft Police Chases In 2 Weeks End On Bridge With Thief Jumping
We’re living in weird times, but even this car theft goes beyond all of the weirdness. A police chase started when three Mustang Shelby GT500s were stolen from a Detroit manufacturing plant. That eventually ended when the Mustang ran out of gas on a bridge, with the 14-year-old driver jumping off to escape. But just two weeks before in San Mateo, California, a Shelby GT500 was stolen. It also resulted in a police chase. And it, too, ended with the Mustang running out of gas on a bridge.
Were these car thefts related?
This most unlikely of scenarios almost seems like a coordinated stunt. Two new Mustang Shelby GT500s were stolen. They both became involved in a police chase, and both ran out of gas on a bridge, in two different states. The jumper received only minor injuries, while the first in Cali resulted in the driver’s death.
The most recent one began with three suspects stealing three 2022 Shelby Mustang GT500s out of the holding area at the Ford Flat Rock plant in Woodhaven just outside of Detroit. Police spotted the Mustangs on I-75. Officers began chasing one of them.
The police stayed on the car until it finally stopped on a bridge in Detroit, having run out of gas. That’s when the driver jumped off the bridge, landing 30 feet below in some bushes. Police officers told Fox2 News he probably jumped because, from their vantage point, it didn’t look like it was that far down.
Why are these car theft drivers so young?
They also said that the underage drivers are part of a larger adult car theft ring. The reason they are so young is that the thieves know police go lighter on juveniles than adults. There has been a rash of new car thefts within the last couple of months in Detroit. Some of the drivers caught were as young as 11 years old.
The more tragic Shelby Mustang theft in California happened just two weeks before. A report of a home invasion by a San Mateo resident drew the police. But the only thing stolen was the homeowner’s white Mustang Shelby GT.
Did the police kill this car thief?
Police then saw it and gave chase. But it outran them to the extent they completely lost sight of it. Still, the police continued to travel in the direction the Mustang was going. Crossing the long San Mateo bridge inland toward the Fremont/Hayward area, the police saw the Mustang parked on the bridge.
On closer inspection the driver was dead. Police suspect oncoming cars killed him. They also discovered the Mustang had run out of gas at that point on the bridge. Having happened early in the morning, darkness was a contributing factor to the driver’s death.
The previous night, four Shelby Mustang GT500s were stolen from Flat Rock. And 12 more were stolen on September 13, from the same lot. Can’t somebody build a fence to lower the chances of this happening? With 12 stolen last month and seven stolen so far this month, that’s 19 in under a month.
