Cadillac owner chases down, shoots car thief

[2dogs]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2043526

Cadillac owner chases down, shoots car thief

Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

A northwest Harris County man chased two thieves who stole his Cadillac early today, shooting and wounding one man.


The man told Harris County Sheriff's Department deputies he discovered his car being swiped from the parking lot of his apartment complex on Gulfbank around 3 a.m.


Using another vehicle, the car owner chased the stolen Cadillac about three miles and fired on its two occupants, until the car slowed and rolled into a curb in front of a convenience store in the 1200 block of Bammel-North Houston near Texas 249, deputies said.


Both men fled on foot. One was caught nearby and taken to Ben Taub Hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound. The other man got away.


Deputies said the shooting probably will be referred to a grand jury without charges.

 

[TallPine]

They shoot horse thieves, don't they ?

 

[Kharn]

Tallpine:
Horse thieves were hanged, IIRC. (But shooting during the act worked just as well, no sense getting a posse together and having to find a big enough tree)

Kharn

 

[seeker_two]

Wasn't there another post--not long ago--where someone did the same thing in another state & was prosecuted?....

And, didn't the question "What would happen if the same thing occurred in Texas?" come up?....

Guess we all know now...

 

[TallPine]

Kharn:

Horse thieves - shot
Survivors - hung




(actually, I was just trying to make a pun out of an old movie title)

 

[Erik]

He'd be prosecutred in most places.

Most places in TX, I dare say.

 

[Art Eatman]

Erik, nighttime felony theft in Texas is not something for the casual crook--as evidenced by the article. The law is rather specific, and favors the property owner.

Some people say, "Why shoot? It's merely a thing." Well, you spent part of your life acquiring the tax-paid dollars to buy the "thing". A thief is saying by his actions that part--if not all--of your life is valueless.

Some folks, and some legislatures, don't believe that even a mere part of one's life is valueless.

, Art

 

[Standing Wolf]

I'd hate like @#$%^&! to have to shoot at my own car; then again, I'd hate ending up with blood on my carpets, too.

As far as I'm concerned, anybody whose behavior clearly indicates a belief that my property is of no value to me has made it abundantly clear his life is of no value to him.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

YEEEHAAA ! I done shot me one o' them there cadillac thieves !!! ! ! !!!

I love Texas !

 

[Keith]

Larry McMurtry describes a "Mexican hanging" that the Texas Rangers supposedly used when there were no trees around.
Two horses, two ropes - one rope around the neck, one around the ankles - then you just ride the horses in opposite directions and stretch the fella between them.

This may be based on artistic license - anybody know if they actually "hung" people that way?

Keith

 

[STW]

The expression "drawn and quartered" is similar, coming from the middle ages when they'd use four horses, one each for arms and legs. I don't believe they hurried the horses along.

 

[Art Eatman]

Keith, that's a new one for me, but there were some very salty people with badges. There were also some really evil types among the bandits...Pretty much, though, that style of "hanging" treatment--if true--in general died out before WW I. Not to say there was an epiphany to sweetness and light, of course.

Art