Karps TA
01-03-2007, 09:53 AM
This guy has watched too many Lethal Weapon movies.
Manager gets jump on crime
He calls 911 from roof of speeding getaway wagon in West Allis
By JESSE GARZA
jgarza@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 2, 2007
In hindsight, Checker Auto Parts store manager Darrin Malsack says he probably should have exercised better judgment than to leap onto a getaway car carrying two shoplifters as they prepared to burn rubber out of the store's parking lot.
"At that point, it was all instant," Malsack, 30, said Tuesday, describing how his attempt to stop two men from stealing a portable DVD system ended in a ride on the roof of their car as it squealed out of the parking lot of the store.
Malsack estimated the speed of the vehicle at up to 50 mph as the driver swerved from side to side in a vain attempt to shake him loose.
"They were going too fast for me to jump off safely," Malsack said, describing the harrowing ride that began at the store, 1357 S. 108th St., and ended almost seven long blocks later near S. 113th and W. Washington streets.
"So I just stayed on top and started pounding on the vehicle."
According to Malsack, two men walked into the store between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Friday and asked about floor jacks and an engine belt. One of the men then inquired about the DVD system.
After Malsack brought the system to the counter, one of the men continued asking about the belt while the other picked up the system and started walking toward the door.
"I've had customers before who wanted to see how the system would fit in their car," he said. "But I felt a little weird about it this time."
The other man then said he was going to his car to get money for a purchase - but then both men got into the station wagon and closed the doors, said Malsack, who followed the men to the car and pounded on the windows when they began to take off.
He went to the rear of the vehicle and took the number of the license plate hanging in the back window, at which point the vehicle began backing up toward him, he said.
"So I jumped on the station wagon," Malsack said. "I was on the roof as they left the parking lot."
Malsack said he hung onto the vehicle's luggage rack as the wagon sped west on W. Greenfield Ave. past pedestrians.
"(The driver) tried swerving to make me fall off and kept yelling at me," he said.
"But it was going too fast. They turned right, and I reached in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone."
Malsack said he managed to dial 911 while squeezing onto the luggage rack.
"I had a really good grip," he said. "There's no way I was going to fall off."
The station wagon blew a stop sign but stopped at a second, where Malsack jumped off the car's roof and began running.
Reaction not recommended
"We would discourage people from endangering their lives over a piece of property," West Allis Detective Lt. Christopher Novy said.
The license plate number Malsack reported did not match the car, described as a silver 1991 Mercury Sable station wagon. No one had been taken into custody in connection with the incident, Novy said Tuesday.
Malsack said in the future he will exercise other options to prevent thefts but at the time of Friday's incident he didn't know how to react.
"They could have had weapons in the car," he said. "But I had never had anything like this happen to me before."
Manager gets jump on crime
He calls 911 from roof of speeding getaway wagon in West Allis
By JESSE GARZA
jgarza@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 2, 2007
In hindsight, Checker Auto Parts store manager Darrin Malsack says he probably should have exercised better judgment than to leap onto a getaway car carrying two shoplifters as they prepared to burn rubber out of the store's parking lot.
"At that point, it was all instant," Malsack, 30, said Tuesday, describing how his attempt to stop two men from stealing a portable DVD system ended in a ride on the roof of their car as it squealed out of the parking lot of the store.
Malsack estimated the speed of the vehicle at up to 50 mph as the driver swerved from side to side in a vain attempt to shake him loose.
"They were going too fast for me to jump off safely," Malsack said, describing the harrowing ride that began at the store, 1357 S. 108th St., and ended almost seven long blocks later near S. 113th and W. Washington streets.
"So I just stayed on top and started pounding on the vehicle."
According to Malsack, two men walked into the store between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Friday and asked about floor jacks and an engine belt. One of the men then inquired about the DVD system.
After Malsack brought the system to the counter, one of the men continued asking about the belt while the other picked up the system and started walking toward the door.
"I've had customers before who wanted to see how the system would fit in their car," he said. "But I felt a little weird about it this time."
The other man then said he was going to his car to get money for a purchase - but then both men got into the station wagon and closed the doors, said Malsack, who followed the men to the car and pounded on the windows when they began to take off.
He went to the rear of the vehicle and took the number of the license plate hanging in the back window, at which point the vehicle began backing up toward him, he said.
"So I jumped on the station wagon," Malsack said. "I was on the roof as they left the parking lot."
Malsack said he hung onto the vehicle's luggage rack as the wagon sped west on W. Greenfield Ave. past pedestrians.
"(The driver) tried swerving to make me fall off and kept yelling at me," he said.
"But it was going too fast. They turned right, and I reached in my pocket and pulled out my cell phone."
Malsack said he managed to dial 911 while squeezing onto the luggage rack.
"I had a really good grip," he said. "There's no way I was going to fall off."
The station wagon blew a stop sign but stopped at a second, where Malsack jumped off the car's roof and began running.
Reaction not recommended
"We would discourage people from endangering their lives over a piece of property," West Allis Detective Lt. Christopher Novy said.
The license plate number Malsack reported did not match the car, described as a silver 1991 Mercury Sable station wagon. No one had been taken into custody in connection with the incident, Novy said Tuesday.
Malsack said in the future he will exercise other options to prevent thefts but at the time of Friday's incident he didn't know how to react.
"They could have had weapons in the car," he said. "But I had never had anything like this happen to me before."