https://www.kbtx.com/2023/03/30/man-tracks-down-stolen-truck-with-airtag-kills-suspect-police-say/

Sorry for the smiley emoji.

Not really.

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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Well you sure can't count on law enforcement to take care of it.

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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What are you suppose to do, wait until the truck is found in Mexico or taken apart in a chop shop?

txaggie_08 said:

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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Well you sure can't count on law enforcement to take care of it.

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If it happened at night and he had only liability insurance, that clause in the law of "no reasonable expectation that the property could be recovered by other means" could come into play. The police in most places have not been covering themselves in glory solving property crimes lately.

really wish people would stop victimizing criminals that **** around and find out.

"no life is worth a thing" argument is so played out. if you're a criminal and get smoked whilst doing criminal things, throw some dirt on them and move on.

Morpholino said:

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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What are you suppose to do, wait until the truck is found in Mexico or taken apart in a chop shop?

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In SA (or any other majormetro area), you could provide real time GPS, pictures and video while LEO are preoccupied with traffic accidents.

I heard of 3 stories of trucks stolen during SA Stock show this year. It is bad.

Paper plates with uninsured drivers, auto theft and lax law enforcement is caused auto insurance rates in Texas to skyrocket. Hopefully this guy isn't prosecuted, because something needs to be done.

agwrestler said:

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Morpholino said:

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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What are you suppose to do, wait until the truck is found in Mexico or taken apart in a chop shop?

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In SA (or any other majormetro area), you could provide real time GPS, pictures and video while LEO are preoccupied with traffic accidents.

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Exactly. There are very recent examples that have been posted here on Texags, where people knew where their truck was after it was stolen and could not get the PD to go look. Ergo, no reasonable expectation that the property can be recovered through other means.

highvelocity said:

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really wish people would stop victimizing criminals that **** around and find out.

"no life is worth a thing" argument is so played out. if you're a criminal and get smoked whilst doing criminal things, throw some dirt on them and move on.

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If no thing is worth a life, then why are criminals risking their lives for things that don't belong to them? They started it, and the owner if the thing is finishing it. No sympathy from me.

FAFO

I should have done this with my dirt bike.

But then again, It'd be me locked up right now and not my bike.

txags92 said:

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txaggie_08 said:

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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Well you sure can't count on law enforcement to take care of it.

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If it happened at night and he had only liability insurance, that clause in the law of "no reasonable expectation that the property could be recovered by other means" could come into play. The police in most places have not been covering themselves in glory solving property crimes lately.

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Sounds like recovery of property may be irrelevant. from the article:

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Soliz said that device is what led the owner to the truck several hours after it was stolen off Braesview on the city's north side, almost 20 miles from the shopping center and eventual shooting.

"They tried to confront the suspect who they saw in their vehicle," Soliz said. "I don't know if an argument happened, but we know that during this time he believes that a firearm may have been pulled by the suspect."

Police said the truck owner shot and killed the 30-year-old suspect, but officers are still working to verify whether the suspect had a gun or not.

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• So owner tracks down stolen truck and confronts the thief. (no crime here)
• owner believes the thief pulled or was trying to pull a gun. (reasonable fear for life, even if no gun is found)
• owner smokes the bad guy, defending his own life with lethal force (justifiable homicide, pretty cut and dry).

seems to me unless there is video evidence that the truck owner approached the thief already waving his gun around (or the owner says something really stupid to police), this is (or should be) a pretty open and shut case of a self defense shooting.

I had a situation with SAPD where I had caught a thief and pursued them through two counties. The sherriff dept was busy, so when we crossed Bexar county line, I called the non emergency number, while in pursuit, and asked for help. Their response was "Sir, you cannot pursue them. You are not an officer. You don't know if they are armed." My response is "I have video evidence, and I am armed as well, and well supplied."

Their last words were "you are ordered to cease pursuing".

Anyway, I pursued them until speeds reached 90 on 1604 and decided that was just going to kill someone else when they started running lights, which they did. So I stopped. Never caught them. Nothing happened. Useless PD.

It is what has solidified my feelings about law enforcement in general. I feel like there are some really great cops and detectives, but most people in law enforcement are there because 1. They need more cops. 2. There isn't anything else those applicants can get a job doing.

The truck owner may discover that they could have purchased a brand new Government Motors truck for less than the cost of recovering their 10+ year old Government Motors truck.

BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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• So owner tracks down stolen truck and confronts the thief. (no crime here)
• owner believes the thief pulled or was trying to pull a gun. (reasonable fear for life, even if no gun is found)
• owner smokes the bad guy, defending his own life with lethal force (justifiable homicide, pretty cut and dry).

seems to me unless there is video evidence that the truck owner approached the thief already waving his gun around (or the owner says something really stupid to police), this is (or should be) a pretty open and shut case of a self defense shooting.

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, there will almost certainly be a civil trial where the dead man's family sues and wins a large settlement from the shooter. That's the part most people never think about and only consider whether or not they could be charged with a crime. Our legal system does not favor the honest, law-abiding citizens, especially in Texas' major metro areas.

highvelocity said:

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really wish people would stop victimizing criminals that **** around and find out.

"no life is worth a thing" argument is so played out. if you're a criminal and get smoked whilst doing criminal things, throw some dirt on them and move on.

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I used to really think I would not want to shoot someone for stealing my property. That was until I had my truck stolen with a lot of work equipment in it. I eventually got the truck back, but they took everything that wasn't bolted down. The truck has been fine and I am actually happy I got it back instead of having to buy another truck in this market. But that was an absolute headache for the better part of a year dealing with all the stolen equipment. I gladly shoot somebody right between the eyes if I had the chance if I caught them.

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The truck owner may discover that they could have purchased a brand new Government Motors truck for less than the cost of recovering their 10+ year old Government Motors truck.

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Enforcing the law is expensive, but it has to be done for society to function.

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, there will almost certainly be a civil trial where the dead man's family sues and wins a large settlement from the shooter. That's the part most people never think about and only consider whether or not they could be charged with a crime. Our legal system does not favor the honest, law-abiding citizens, especially in Texas' major metro areas.

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If truck owner was acting within their legal rights (which from the few facts presented appears to be the case) then I doubt that the family of a thief who was killed by someone defending their life will "almost certainly win a large sum of money". Truck owner will be no billed and a judge would mostly likely dismiss any civil trial.

I agree that the police won't do anything about it anymore. It sucks that our car insurance rates show this too. I wish we had some regulators allowed to ride. Sweeping through and cleaning up scum would be well funded by many of us. Keep the worthless government out of it. They can't seem to enforce a single law, so what's the point in having them.

We need to go back to tall trees, short ropes, and shooting worthless scumbags in the streets.

3 Toed Pete said:

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BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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• So owner tracks down stolen truck and confronts the thief. (no crime here)
• owner believes the thief pulled or was trying to pull a gun. (reasonable fear for life, even if no gun is found)
• owner smokes the bad guy, defending his own life with lethal force (justifiable homicide, pretty cut and dry).

seems to me unless there is video evidence that the truck owner approached the thief already waving his gun around (or the owner says something really stupid to police), this is (or should be) a pretty open and shut case of a self defense shooting.

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, there will almost certainly be a civil trial where the dead man's family sues and wins a large settlement from the shooter. That's the part most people never think about and only consider whether or not they could be charged with a crime. Our legal system does not favor the honest, law-abiding citizens, especially in Texas' major metro areas.

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This is really something our legislature should address. If somebody is found to have been justified in using deadly force, it should be illegal to sue them for damages resulting from that use.

Belton Ag said:

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Paper plates with uninsured drivers, auto theft and lax law enforcement is caused auto insurance rates in Texas to skyrocket.

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All by liberal design. The government discourages independence, so they are making it harder to be mobile on your own.

OldCamp said:

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Quote:

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The truck owner may discover that they could have purchased a brand new Government Motors truck for less than the cost of recovering their 10+ year old Government Motors truck.

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Enforcing the law is expensive, but it has to be done for society to function.

Quote:

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, there will almost certainly be a civil trial where the dead man's family sues and wins a large settlement from the shooter. That's the part most people never think about and only consider whether or not they could be charged with a crime. Our legal system does not favor the honest, law-abiding citizens, especially in Texas' major metro areas.

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If truck owner was acting within their legal rights (which from the few facts presented appears to be the case) then I doubt that the family of a thief who was killed by someone defending their life will "almost certainly win a large sum of money". Truck owner will be no billed and a judge would mostly likely dismiss any civil trial.

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Are you sure a Soros-funded judge would dismiss this? Because based on anecdotal history, I'm not. I am very familiar with a case in Harris County that was far more of a slam-dunk than this one. The Soros-funded DA of Harris County decided to drop it but a Soros-funded judge let the ensuing lawsuit proceed and the insurance company decided to settle than fight it out. And Bexar County is as bad as Harris as far as judges and has become a lot worse the last few years.

I only bring this up because everyone needs to know there are more consequences than whether or not the DA pursues charges.

Have to wonder how many vehicles the dead thief stole in his life. Would like to see a story on his criminal charges prior.

I'm good with having bait vehicles and snipers watching.

txags92 said:

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3 Toed Pete said:

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BlackGoldAg2011 said:

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• So owner tracks down stolen truck and confronts the thief. (no crime here)
• owner believes the thief pulled or was trying to pull a gun. (reasonable fear for life, even if no gun is found)
• owner smokes the bad guy, defending his own life with lethal force (justifiable homicide, pretty cut and dry).

seems to me unless there is video evidence that the truck owner approached the thief already waving his gun around (or the owner says something really stupid to police), this is (or should be) a pretty open and shut case of a self defense shooting.

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I agree with you. Unfortunately, there will almost certainly be a civil trial where the dead man's family sues and wins a large settlement from the shooter. That's the part most people never think about and only consider whether or not they could be charged with a crime. Our legal system does not favor the honest, law-abiding citizens, especially in Texas' major metro areas.

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This is really something our legislature should address. If somebody is found to have been justified in using deadly force, it should be illegal to sue them for damages resulting from that use.

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The Legislature did address this about 15 years ago. You can be sued for property damage but generally have civil immunity for personal injury/death as a result of a good shoot

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CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE

TITLE 4. LIABILITY IN TORT

CHAPTER 83. USE OF FORCE OR DEADLY FORCE


Sec. 83.001. CIVIL IMMUNITY. A defendant who uses force or deadly force that is justified under Chapter 9, Penal Code, is immune from civil liability for personal injury or death that results from the defendant's use of force or deadly force, as applicable.

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Mas89 said:

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Have to wonder how many vehicles the dead thief stole in his life. Would like to see a story on his criminal charges prior.

I'm good with having bait vehicles and snipers watching.

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Claymores would be more exciting to watch.

Perp won't do this/that again!
May he burn in hell!

My Raptor was stolen and I didn't report it to the police for 5 days bc if you do it is headed to Mexico or a chop shop. I finally got it back after a month and it was in good shape. Thanks be to God. I found a company on a Raptor forum that recommended Ravelco. I just had it installed on Sunday morning. So I'd recommend that. They disabled my gps within 2 minutes. I've been "jugged" 1x and have had the windows smashed another so in Houston it's best to keep your head on a swivel and stay strapped n stay frosty.

Don't follow them by yourself or you're going to risk getting shot. Mine was stolen by a ring of Salvadorans and Mexicans. There was 4 of them total on the Shell station video in 1 in my truck and 2 in 2 other cars.

SportsagentAg92 said:

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My Raptor was stolen and I didn't report it to the police for 5 days bc if you do it is headed to Mexico or a chop shop.

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Are you staying they will try and keep or resell it if it's not reported stolen, which presumably they will know because they have access to a stolen vehicle database?

txaggie_08 said:

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Quote:

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"If you are to get your vehicle stolen, I know that it's frustrating, but please do not take matters into your own hands like this," Soliz said.

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Well you sure can't count on law enforcement to take care of it.

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100% true. A little over a year ago, a guy tried to car jack me in Houston with a gun in his hand. Turned over dash cam video of the incident to HPD where the suspect is plainly visible and so his is plates.

I traced the plates back to someone and their facebook profile matches the person in the video.

Took a look at Harris County Court Open Records and that person is on parole for aggv assault with a deadly weapon.

HPD has still done absolutely nothing.

Little different. They caught his guy. Se la vie. Most of us don't have the profile to command that level of effort from law enforcement.

Which is why the OP story is one we can all turn a blind eye to and deem acceptable.