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Thursday, Mar 28th

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Grand theft auto, wild west edition

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A victim of vehicle theft hesitated to call the police immediately when she reportedly witnessed her vehicle being stolen and driving off into the distance around noon March 5. She finally called for help from the Gallup Police Department about 30 minutes later, when a friend informed her that she had seen the vehicle – in the worst possible circumstances.

People who saw it described her stolen vehicle as “a beautiful new truck,” after  it was witnessed downtown – crashing into buildings and other cars.

The first victim of the reckless criminal said that she had been driving east on Coal Street, when she noticed a vehicle barreling erratically towards her. She pushed the gas to the floor, into her green light, to avoid being struck. She was not successful in avoiding the collision. Her car incurred damage to the bumper, door and trunk, but she wasn’t injured, according to reports.

She was forced to pull over, but the rogue vehicle continued northward.

The driver then plowed into Nizhoni Music Therapy at 111 S. Second St. before nearly striking a man changing his tire on the side of the road near the building. An onlooker shouted at the man to get out of the way, and he was able to move out of the way in time.

Coincidentally, Sun photographer, Knifewing Segura, was on the scene at Second Street and saw what was happening, and heroically decided, right then and there, to pursue the driver. He chased them in his own vehicle onto Highway 66. He noted that the driver was rolling along with only three tires at this point, due to the damage accrued up until then.

“They damaged part of the road on Route 66 because of the missing tire,” Segura said.

By the time the pursuant photographer caught up to the truck, the driver had abandoned the vehicle, just a few blocks away, on Fourth Street, and had fled on foot. Segura continued searching the surrounding city blocks for the suspect, but could not locate the driver.

When asked why he had decided to pursue the driver, the photographer answered, “That’s just the world I come from, when something needs to be done you do it. Someone else could have gotten hurt, they needed to be stopped.”

Police are still searching for any information about the dangerous driver. The only reported clue as to why the driver drove so recklessly, was a can of Foster’s Beer, found in the console area of the derelict wreck. The owner of the vehicle, clearly upset according to the police report, stated that she does not know who took it.

By Naomi Mercedes Chan

Sun Correspondent