Video captures botched catalytic converter theft at Detroit car dealership; Police searching for suspects
(CBS DETROIT) — Detroit police are on the hunt for a trio of thieves who were captured on camera stealing a catalytic converter from a car dealership.
Police say at about 5 a.m. on Thursday, three men crashed their truck into a pole at Govanni Used Cars in Detroit, allegedly used a Sawzall to cut through the car dealership's iron gate, steal a catalytic converter, and then quickly drive off.
But the getaway was not as smooth.
Video showed one of the men fall out of the car as they attempted to flee. Police say the suspect's gun fell onto the street as he got back in the car.
"They got away with a converter and a whole lot of embarrassment," said Kola Gjonaj, owner of Govanni Used Cars.
Gjonaj said that when police saw the security footage, they were astonished at the thieves' brazen attempt.
"We love Detroit police, they're amazing. But when they came and watched the video, they couldn't help but die laughing over and over," Gjonaj said. "They just kept saying, 'Play it again, play it again. This is better than TV.' It was hilarious."
In addition to the 35 to 40 cameras at the dealerships, there were also multiple night watchmen at the business, and Gjonaj said he was happy they quickly called the police and didn't engage with the thieves because it wouldn't be worth it to have a guard or even a thief he says get hurt.
He explained to me why the men were most likely going after the catalytic converters.
"There's platinum in them, and they can take them to muffler shops, or they can take them to scrap yards and get anywhere between 125 to depending anywhere between $200, $300, 400 on one single converter," Gjonaj said.
Govanni Used Cars have been on Tireman Ave in Detroit for over 37 years, and nothing like this has happened before.
On Thursday Afternoon, the business was working on repairing the 2-3 thousand dollars of damage to the property.
All three men are still at large. The Detroit Police confirmed that it is investigating this incident.
