I just batman'd my way into a drug dealera car...

To get my stolen backpack back

This is mainly a post for me to rant, but I'm curious to hear similiar crazy stories of situations like this.

I needed a fuel filter for the corolla as it died yesterday and after some troubleshooting, I determined it wasn't getting fuel.

So on my lunch break today I peel into the largest Canadian Tire in Canada (um, if you don't know what that is, imagine what hardware stores used to be, except huge and with some typical home items). Anyways, this place is brand new and in a huge shopping mall complex on the south end of our million+ population city.

The corolla doesn't have power windows or power locks. Naturally, me being from small town Alberta (the habits are hard to break), I figure I can get away with leaving my doors unlocked and the windows down for the FIVE minutes I'll be inside as I know what filter I need and can grab the fuel filter off the shelf.

So I go inside, locate the fuel filter isle after a couple of minutes, pay and leave. When I get to my car, my stomach dropped; my backpack was gone In it was my passport, brand new laptop, some cheques, and various other keys to my life (literal and figurative keys).

Parked next to my car was a sketchy-ish looking dude in a beat up, blue 1999-ish Dodge Caravan. Now, I didn't think he had stolen the stuff, I was practically in a daze, and I just started asking him if he'd seen anyone grab my backpack as I literally had been gone for 5 minutes and he wasn't parked there when I had parked. The window of opportunity would have been so small, and the backpack would have been noticeable on someone throughout the parking lot, so I kind of badgered him a bit.

Dude was all "no man, I didn't see anyone, you definitely should keep your doors locked and windows up" and I was just all, "ya, I know, but did you see anyone?"

He was on the phone talking to someone and he told me he had to go, fair enough, he doesn't have to stick around, he's a random guy for all I know. But I kind of got a weird vibe, the timing was just SO coincidental that nobody was parked there when I got there, he was parked and talking on his cell less than 5 minutes after I had left and came back. Such a small window, and there were so many other cars somebody could target that weren't practically at the front of the store.

So as he was driving out of the lot and I was heading to the store to see if I could get footage, I kind of stopped him again and asked if he was sure he didn't see anyone AT ALL with a backpack. He gave me the same line again, but still I was sketched out by the guy. His back windows were all tinted, and it was hard to see, but finally I said "screw-it" worse that could happen for me opening his rear door is he tears off or people think I'm a lunatic. To get my backpack back would be worth suffering that.

So, I yanked on the door, locked, the guy was all "wtf! If you're accusing me of something, I'll pull over and show you". So he trundled to the back of the lot (weird) and stopped. I told him I wasn't trying to get on his E36 M3, it just was super coincidental. So he unlocked the door, I slid the door back, and there was nothing in the back, but while I did that he was all "dude, I'm just a dope dealer making a sale, I didn't steal your E36 M3" and flashes a dime bag (of what I assume was meth??) And I'm all "man, thats fine, whatever floats your boat, I just want my backpack back" but it wasn't in the back

As I'm closing the door, I notice a lump underneath a bath towel thats covering something between the passenger front seat and the middle row with a baby seat on it, at the last second, I whip the door back open and half dive in, a backpack appears from beneath the towel and I yank it and myself out of the van as the dude freaks out and peels out of the parking lot.

Full of adrenalin, I slowly look over and it is my backpack. Guy didn't take anything out of it. I was still in a daze, what from stomache dropping to crazy adrenalin rush in thr span of 5 minutes.

A guy noticed something going on and wrote the licence plate down.

Moral of the story; lock your car doors and windows. Even in a space far from the hood, with no easy walking or transit available, you never know when a shady person will ruin your day. I'm just thrilled everything turned out alright, and learned an extremely valuable lesson.

Now share your crazy stories

HiTempguy wrote: I'm just thrilled everything turned out alright, and learned an extremely valuable lesson.

Was the lesson "shake down the first motherberkeleyer you come across"? Because that totally worked out. Did you grab the dime bag too? Because that would be a sweet reward.

My story:

I left my windows down once to go into the gun store and buy ammo and came out and everything was right where I left it.

No crazy stories, my son ridicules me when I make him lock the doors on his $250 Civic when we run into a store for a few minutes.
Glad the dealer wasn't an associate of the Heisenberg meth empire, they don't like breakage!

I keep my doors locked when the stuff inside is worth more than the car.

You also are lucky that you didn't get shot up. If that was Florida you would've been dead.

Good thing you are in gun free canadaland.

PHeller wrote: You also are lucky that you didn't get shot up. If that was Florida you would've been dead.

If it was California, you’d be killed, tortured, killed some more and then sued.

Please be careful Hi Tempguy

I always lock everything. EVERYTHING. I lock my toolbox in my own garage. Why? Because if a guy breaks into my garage I see no reason to say "congratulations for making it this far, have some more of my really valuable E36 M3 as a reward"! I have been asked many times about what happened to make me so paranoid. People: "Have you ever had a break in?" Me:"No, because I lock my E36 M3 up".

I had a GF that lived out in the country and owned a house with no keys. When she was selling it the realtors just walked in, because there was nothing in the little lock box house keys usually live in. Soon after someone stole EVERYTHING OF VALUE from the house. Probably took hours. No problem-its an unlocked house at the end of a dead end road in the middle of nowhere. Considering how she treated me and other people later on, I am convinced it was preemptive Karma.

Preemptive Karma is a bitch.

bgkast wrote: Good thing you are in gun free canadaland.

Albertexas is anything but gun-free.

I learned early on not to put the roof up and lock the doors on convertibles. You will come out and your roof will be knifed and your radio will be gone. Roof stays down all the time on the TR8s, unless I'm out and it starts raining really hard and I'm not moving. Anything above 45mph and the rain goes right over the windshield. Valuables can always go in the trunk. If someone wants them, they will have to twist the trunk knob and open up the trunk to get at them. Not that its locked, but most thieves don't realize British cars have easy open trunks.

Trans_Maro wrote:

bgkast wrote: Good thing you are in gun free canadaland.

Albertexas is anything but gun-free.

Note I never said that what I did was smart. I am just happy with the results.

If it had been a different month, or a slightly more relaxed time in life, it would have been no sweat off my back. I have to travel for business today and I have a whole bunch of stuff (buying a place, just bought a car, moving, etc etc) plus the passport that really just made me not think too clearly about it and I reacted.

GPS, to get a bit more of your perspective, if the same thing happened, would you help someone a little overwhelmed open your door to look inside just for their piece of mind/comfort? Most don't know me personally, if that happened to somebody right next to me, I'd have let them look AND helped search the parking lot/store.

The guy let me look in his car willingly at the end of the day. I didn't break his door handle off or anything. So cool y0 jets mang

Classic story - glad you didn't get shot over a backpack despite the valuables.

Hope that berkeleyer gets busted, he was far more likely a user than a dealer judging by his behavior. Especially since he was desperate enough to break into an old crapcan

Even in a safe place I wouldn't have left THAT stuff unsecured in a car.

That's pretty crazy. I've never had anything stolen from my cars and I never lock anything, of course I never have anything of value in there anyway. I have had my drivers side widow broke out, nothing was taken and the door was unlocked anyway. Dog E36 M3 wiped underneath the doorhandles and I had a car set on fire sitting in front of the house with the windows down one day. But nothing was ever stolen.

tr8todd wrote: I learned early on not to put the roof up and lock the doors on convertibles. You will come out and your roof will be knifed and your radio will be gone. Roof stays down all the time on the TR8s, unless I'm out and it starts raining really hard and I'm not moving. Anything above 45mph and the rain goes right over the windshield. Valuables can always go in the trunk. If someone wants them, they will have to twist the trunk knob and open up the trunk to get at them. Not that its locked, but most thieves don't realize British cars have easy open trunks.

I've heard that saying forever. And from 1997 to 2014, my soft top never once got knifed. And the doors were locked.

Then again, I don't leave things out in the open for anyone to be staring at- it seems safer to not provide targets. Let alone the most important stuff I have with an open window, just inviting someone to come along and take it.

Dude knifed The roof on my 944, or tried to. There is a liner that you can't knife through so he just cut the outside. Doors were unlocked too...

Glad your ok, could see bad stuff going down.

Should've given him a tire iron enema

I left my car unlocked once and some kid with a backpack stole all my drugs. Man, was I bummed.

Ok, here's my similarly stupid story. I'm at my sister's house a few years back and the kids are all playing in the back yard. All of the sudden, my niece (the oldest) is herding all the kids inside and tells me "there's kids with guns out there". I go out in the yard to check out the kids she's talking about and there are three boys, probably about 13 or 14 who are ducking behind bushes and just generally acting squirrelly. I watch them for a minute and realize my niece is right and at least two of them have what appear to be handguns tucked in their belts. They seem too old to be "playing army". The guns are poly framed, steel slide, look like Smith and Wesson Sigma 9mm's. So I call the police. In the mean time, my brother in law gets the bright idea that we should keep an eye on them. As we drive past them trying to figure out what they are up to, and one of them shifts the gun around and I see . . . orange barrel plug. Berk me - airsofts. And I've now got the cops coming, probably lights and sirens. The last thing I want is some toy armed teenager getting shot on my account. My brother in law and I quickly do the "self pat down" and realize both of our phones are charging on the counter back at the house.

In a moment of stupidity rivaling yours, I decide its better if there's an adult with them when the cops arrive, so I jump out of the car. I also decide the best defense is a good offense, so I go "shock and awe", pretty much dress them down like a Marine D.I., ranting and raving and giving them the business. "Keep your berkin' hands where I can see 'em", "the cops are on the way thinking you're armed", etc., etc. Fortunately, a minute or two in, before they have time to recover, the local Barney Fife rides by (I had called the county sheriff). I wave him over. First he tries to give me the "not my jurisdiction" crap. I explain I have the sheriff coming on a "gun" call and I want and officer present when they arrive. So Barney gets out of his cruiser. First he collects up the airsofts, then says "got anything else on you?" All three start shuffling around and staring at the dirt, so he has all three put their hands on the cruiser. A quick pat-down of all three reveals they each had several knives on them in addition to the airsoft guns. By the time he's done, there's a pile of knives on his cruiser, several of them large, illegal double edged knives. At this point, I become really glad none of them called my bluff on the R. Lee Ermey approach. Long story short, they were trying to be "gang bangers" in their little podunk neighborhood. They were apparently just coming from shooting airsofts at a special ed kid down the street, which is why they were acting "extra squirrelly" initially. As expected, the sheriff rolls up three cars deep with lights and sirens. One of the responding deputies is a good friend of mine. He quietly pulls me aside and tells me the same thing I'll tell you, "Please don't ever do anything that stupid again."

Still, I'm not gonna lie, I felt like Batman for a few days too . . .

Zomby Woof wrote: I left my car unlocked once and some kid with a backpack stole all my drugs. Man, was I bummed.

This wouldn't surprise me about you ya dope smoking Ontario hippy

Junkyard_Dog wrote: No problem-its an unlocked house at the end of a dead end road in the middle of nowhere. Considering how she treated me and other people later on, I am convinced it was preemptive Karma. Preemptive Karma is a bitch.

was she also boning Amy and fasted58?

When we lived in 5 points in Denver. I chased a guy down the block who was trying to break into the neighbors house. I didn't really know what I was going to do to him when I caught him, but quickly stopped chasing him when I realized I had forgot to holster my Glock 30 which I had grabbed on my way out of the house and I was running down the street all Miami Vice. Moved shortly after that.

In reply to patgizz:

Younger or older Amy?

I'm glad you got your laptop back.

And glad you held that idiot accountable.

All to often, 'we' let others run all over us because we are afraid what they 'might' do. Bull. Let them be afraid what we might do.

There are a few people who have given me a cheap shot in my life, one in particular stands out.

If I ever see him again, I plan to look him directly in the eye, smile ever so slightly, and wink.

HiTempguy wrote: GPS, to get a bit more of your perspective, if the same thing happened, would you help someone a little overwhelmed open your door to look inside just for their piece of mind/comfort?

Well, no, I wouldn't let you in my car because you could just be some crazy crackhead - but I wouldn't be looking all suspicious either. I wasn't faulting you for doing it - I think it's awesome. He looked like a sneaky bag stealer, you jacked him and you were right. I'd say good show.