AirTag tracks car thieves, but vehicle wrecked during police chase

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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Police quickly tracked down a stolen car with the owner's AirTag inside, but the thieves then crashed it during a high-speed chase.




Apple's AirTags have now been used countless times to help track down a stolen vehicle, and lead to thieves being arrested. Now in the North Carolina city of Cary, a similar tale has led not to the recovery of a vehicle, but the destruction of it.

According to local television station WRAL News, three juvenile thieves took Muhammad family's Toyota Camry. Later, it was discovered that footage of them stealing the car was recorded on a neighbor's doorbell camera, but at first the Muhammads had no idea it was gone.

"We woke up, and I looked outside and I asked my wife, 'Hey, do you know your car's no longer in the driveway?'" Antar Muhammad told WRAL.

"You feel violated," Leslie Muhammad said, "know that something you own, someone has taken."

However, Antar Muhammad said that he now routinely puts AirTags in everything, from the car to new luggage. He says he stood with police in his kitchen as he showed the officers his iPhone's Find My app indicating the precisely location of the stolen car.

"I'm able to pinpoint exactly where it's at and actually to zoom in and almost precisely pick out the parking space the car was in," he continued.

The car was being held 12 miles away in Durham city, and police departments from both cities collaborated on the arrest.

However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway.

The three thieves were arrested at the scene, and guns found in the car were taken by police. The car itself has been towed away.

Nonetheless, Leslie Muhammad is delighted that the thieves were caught. "They picked the wrong car that night," she said.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,986member
    has led not to the recovery of a vehicle, but the destruction of it.

    To be clear the car WAS recovered. It was just underivable afterwards. 
    tokyojimujahbladewatto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 2 of 12
    charlesatlascharlesatlas Posts: 407member
    Never should have been a high-speed chase. First, everybody knows they're dangerous, which is why they're against department policy in many cities. And second, it's being tracked. That's the whole point of the story. They could have kept a discreet distance until it parked. The Airtag battery would have lasted and they couldn't have lost track of the car. Better yet, you never know what kind of goodies those thieves might have led them to if you had just followed them. Maybe a chop shop. There was no need to catch them immediately.
    DAalsethdarkvadermdwmknelsontokyojimuwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 12
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,986member
    charlesatlas said:
    Never should have been a high-speed chase. First, everybody knows they're dangerous, which is why they're against department policy in many cities. And second, it's being tracked. That's the whole point of the story. They could have kept a discreet distance until it parked. The Airtag battery would have lasted and they couldn't have lost track of the car. Better yet, you never know what kind of goodies those thieves might have led them to if you had just followed them. Maybe a chop shop. There was no need to catch them immediately.
    Plus even if they find the car abandoned a mile away, their fingerprints would be all over it. It’s not like they would be impossible to gather up later. 
    darkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 12
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    charlesatlas said:
    Never should have been a high-speed chase. First, everybody knows they're dangerous, which is why they're against department policy in many cities. And second, it's being tracked. That's the whole point of the story. They could have kept a discreet distance until it parked. The Airtag battery would have lasted and they couldn't have lost track of the car. Better yet, you never know what kind of goodies those thieves might have led them to if you had just followed them. Maybe a chop shop. There was no need to catch them immediately.

    ACAB.  That's really what the takeaway here is. A high speed chase isn't simple stupidity, it's actual malice.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    mike_gallowaymike_galloway Posts: 114member
    There is nothing in the article that says there was any high speed chase - they may have just driven off without any chase and crashed.
    lkruppwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 12
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    mike_galloway said:
    There is nothing in the article that says there was any high speed chase - they may have just driven off without any chase and crashed.
    Exactly. The actual report does not mention a chase. As police approached the vehicle it drove away at high speed and crashed shortly thereafter. So we start with a misinformed headline, then that misinformation is enhanced and commented on by busybodies with agendas. And we wonder wonder why our society is as screwed up as it is.
    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 7 of 12
    charlesatlascharlesatlas Posts: 407member
    lkrupp said:
    There is nothing in the article that says there was any high speed chase - they may have just driven off without any chase and crashed.
    Exactly. The actual report does not mention a chase. As police approached the vehicle it drove away at high speed and crashed shortly thereafter. So we start with a misinformed headline, then that misinformation is enhanced and commented on by busybodies with agendas. And we wonder wonder why our society is as screwed up as it is.
     Oh, really? I "enhanced" it? So Appleinsider didn't write:
    Police quickly tracked down a stolen car with the owner's AirTag inside, but the thieves then crashed it during a high-speed chase.
    and
    However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway.
    As for being a busybody, if that means worrying about the safety and lives of innocent bystanders who are injured and killed during police chases, then I'm guilty and proud of it.

    edited February 2023 mknelsonbonobob
  • Reply 8 of 12
    martinxyzmartinxyz Posts: 98member
    lkrupp said:
    There is nothing in the article that says there was any high speed chase - they may have just driven off without any chase and crashed.
    Exactly. The actual report does not mention a chase. As police approached the vehicle it drove away at high speed and crashed shortly thereafter. So we start with a misinformed headline, then that misinformation is enhanced and commented on by busybodies with agendas. And we wonder wonder why our society is as screwed up as it is.
     Oh, really? I "enhanced" it? So Appleinsider didn't write:
    Police quickly tracked down a stolen car with the owner's AirTag inside, but the thieves then crashed it during a high-speed chase.
    and
    However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway.
    Not 

    Not disagreeing with you about the sanity or not of high-speed chases, but there's no mention of a chase in the linked story. The phrase "However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway." is nowhere to be found there, or anywhere else on the web according to Google.

  • Reply 9 of 12
    davendaven Posts: 722member
    My mechanic commented on my mechanical anti-theft device installed in my struck. What do I have? A stick shift.
    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 10 of 12
    bonobobbonobob Posts: 393member
    martinxyz said:
    lkrupp said:
    There is nothing in the article that says there was any high speed chase - they may have just driven off without any chase and crashed.
    Exactly. The actual report does not mention a chase. As police approached the vehicle it drove away at high speed and crashed shortly thereafter. So we start with a misinformed headline, then that misinformation is enhanced and commented on by busybodies with agendas. And we wonder wonder why our society is as screwed up as it is.
     Oh, really? I "enhanced" it? So Appleinsider didn't write:
    Police quickly tracked down a stolen car with the owner's AirTag inside, but the thieves then crashed it during a high-speed chase.
    and
    However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway.
    Not 

    Not disagreeing with you about the sanity or not of high-speed chases, but there's no mention of a chase in the linked story. The phrase "However, as the Durham PD officers approached the stolen car, the thieves drove it away at speed. The thieves reportedly almost hit a police cruiser, and did shortly afterwards crash the car on Martin Luther King Jr Parkway." is nowhere to be found there, or anywhere else on the web according to Google.

    Read the subhead, just under the article's title.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,123member
    As they were underage, their parents should foot the bill for all the damages and theft caused by their little miscreants.  A message needs to be sent to these kids that actual consequences will happen.  What kind of parents they must be for allowing their kids to be outside in the middle of the night stealing cars and carrying guns?
  • Reply 12 of 12
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,822member
    Daily Mail logic... 'don't put an AirTag in your car; it will get wrecked.'
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