Adding to the recent uptick in catalytic converter thefts, a group of thieves in Sacramento, California attempted to take off with an entire neighborhood’s worth in broad daylight.
The incident occurred at around 5 AM on Saturday morning, and the commotion they were making was what led the filming witness outside to begin with. Another neighbor came to help after realizing the car losing its catalytic converters was his grandmother’s.
The two thieves had their minivan stopped in the middle of the road and the witness started filming them underneath the jacked-up Toyota Prius. One man was working the jack, while the other was cutting away at the catalytic converter. After some time recording, the one working the jack realized the witness wasn’t going away, so he got a blowtorch from the minivan to scare him off.
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Some other neighbors came to try and help ward off the thieves, who eventually drove off, leaving their jack behind. Thankfully, the brazen attempt at catalytic converter theft wasn’t successful on the Prius, however a few other residents noticed their converters had unfortunately already been stolen.
As the witness said when interviewed by CBS Sacramento, “I just thought ‘it was this car, we caught them, they stopped, and that’s it. They didn’t go my car.’ And then when I started my car, it sounded like it was missing catalytic converters.”