ElementreeFebruary 2009Sorry for the long winded story, but i felt that it needed to be told how it was.
Well done to everyone involved with catching those pieces of human waste.
A special thanks to Dan Worsley and Jason Saunders for being the beef of the operation.
So when i rocked up at Derdes today i sussed the guys right away. 2 guys and their female accomplice fit the description of Indian looking guys, one with gold front teeth (smarts i think they are called - or grills in the USA - whatever), the car wasn't the same as the one used at other times, but i was sure because i had seen them at the beach loads of times when bad things happened
The one guy, wearing a bright orange t-shirt(i mean how stupid - you come to steal cars in a BRIGHT orange T - WTF!), and the chick were sitting up on the raised platform checking things out while the other guy parked off in their car laying low.
They checked me talking on my cell phone, actually calling someone to tell them that i thought that i had found the thieves, so the dude in the car got out, after he was signaled by the guy in the orange t-shirt, and sat on the fencing behind me so that he could watch me while i changed - obvioulsy to see what i had on me and to watch what i did with my keys, which i keep in my wetsuit.
All of them watched me like a hawk while i changed and while i walked to the water. On the way i actually stopped and told another guy of my suspicions and asked him to keep an eye on them.
The entire time i was in the water i felt uncomfortable because i just couldn't help but keep watching them move from spot to spot checking out the cars.
When i got out they had moved off and i saw them, all three of them, back in their car driving away. I thought that because the beach was now packed and everyone was watching they had decided to move on - oh hell no they were just setting up the scam!
So i finished changing got in my car and started it when i noticed the guy in the orange shirt appear from thin air and walk back up the ramp to the raised platform. He fumbled around for a few seconds and briskly walked back into the parking lot where he had gotten the keys to a brand spanking new Gold BMW 325ti - game on!
Before any of us knew what was going on he reversed the car and started leaving the parking area, driving right past me while i reversed. I saw Dan and Jason start freaking out and trying to open the doors to the stolen car, but they couldn't - it had auto locked itself as most modern cars do. Meanwhile i tried to exit the parking lot, but got stopped by some poephol in a 4x4 whole couldn't get through the tight gap in one go - with my tank i was going to smash the dude off the road, but it was too late he had driven off with Dan and Jason furiously banging on the windows trying to stop the car!
Before escaping the crook attempted to stop an pick up his accomplices - the other guy and the girl - but had failed because of the guys giving chase, so he sped away.
Unleash hell!
The accomplices got it - not physically - verbally!
In no time other surfers cottoned on to what was going down and soon the crooks were swamped with death threats and accusations from scores of angry characters - most of whom had themselves been robbed by these scumbags.
I have never heard such a lame alibi in my entire life - "we just met him and asked him to help push start our car", was their excuse and we weren't buying it! All of us had sussed them and seen the together checking out the cars for at least 2 hours. Their words fell on def ears and soon they were trying to distract everyone and make their feeble escape...
Dan and Jason stood firm, having acquired a couple of poles to persuade the crooks to stay put and await the police, who had been called.
The cops arrived, sweet innocent faces were shown, elaborated stories with no real substance were told and the crowd grew angry as more and more surfers pimped them as always being at the beach when cars get stolen or broken in to and grew tired of the lame reasoning that might just lead to them being set free.
Luckily for us just as the cops were about to drive away with the suspects the owner of the BMW got out of the water and confronted the police as the owner of the supposed stolen vehicle - now the surfing community of Derdesteen had a case and all of us were willing to testify that they worked as a team and not as the stranded thieves had explained.
The dude was livid, as you can only imagine, so numbers were exchanged and justice should prevail.
I spoke to one of the officers, who said that she herself had fired shots at people fitting the thieves exact profile this past weekend. When i asked her about what she felt, in her professional opinion, would happen to the accused she responded by saying that the first thing they will do is ID them and check for outstanding arrest warrants and whether or not they are on bail or have previous criminal records. I was assured that the police would then rigorously interrogate the suspects until they confessed as to where their accomplice had taken the vehicle.
The police know that it is them who have been hitting our surf spots and they want the car back - NOW!
They are going down and it is all due to riders standing up for riders, keeping an eye out for each others belongings and standing together when needed.
The best thing was that we all stood together.
Stand ups, boogers, long boarders - NO - just riders tired of being taken for a ride while we are out catching a ride!
Thanks once again to all those who stood up to the accused.
Cheers
GW
