It’s wrong what he was trying to do, but the punishment didn’t fit the crime.
Imagine your final moments are of you trapped underneath a Toyota Prius, crushed by a hybrid because you are a catalytic converter thief who doesn’t know how to properly lift a car. According to KCTV 5 news that was the unfortunate reality of one Kansas City, Missouri man who died earlier today after a Toyota Prius he was attempting to steal a catalytic converter from came crashing down onto his body, pinning him underneath.
Kansas City police say the man was trying to steal a catalytic converter off of a Toyota Prius when the car fell and crushed him. https://t.co/wTRIz4JmbZ #KAKEnews
— KAKE News (@KAKEnews) February 21, 2020
KCTV describes how the thief, although crushed by the Prius, wasn’t immediately killed. With his remaining strength he called out to a passerby to help him. Even though he was successfully dragged out, he succumbed to his injuries.
But why?
Car thieves have been going after catalytic converters ever since they became mandatory on cars but a recent spike that’s seen Palladium per oz double in the past year from $1,000 to over $2,000 has emboldened criminals to steal catalytic converters, a source of the precious metal.
According to the WSJ, Prius converters can have as much as 2 ounces of Palladium or a little less than a 10th of an oz. Some quick maths and, with the other precious metals, you can get upwards of $450 at a scrapyard for a Prius converter.
Located smack dab in the middle, underneath a Prius, they are ideal targets for catalytic converter thieves. But since they aren’t as accessible as trucks, you have to lift and crawl underneath to get them.
Converter thieves, like this one, probably only an easy-to-carry scissor jack, strong enough to lift a car but not stable enough for long repairs where you need to crawl underneath to do some serious work.
Lightweight jacks that are strong enough to raise a car are only for light duty repairs to tires, wheels, brakes, and any other outer perimeter repairs where you need the car off the ground but don’t have to crawl underneath. If you must crawl underneath a car, the car should be on level ground, supported by jack stands, choked wheels, and a back-up jack for good measure.
While everyone agrees that what he was trying to do is 100 percent wrong, the punishment in this case, certainly did not fit the crime.
I’m just wanting to say, I knew the man under this Prius, did you? More than likely not considering how insensitive you are being in this so called “Car News Story” I just want you to ask yourself, would you still be writing this idiotic sounding “News Story” if this man was your father, brother, best friend, or even your own son? Unless you are a full blown sociopath, probably not. You don’t know a thing about this man’s life story. Not everyone has the privilege to have a worry free perfect life, like apparently you do. Some people unfortunately are put into situations throughout their life, whether they put themselves in those situations or not does not give anyone a right to judge them and be so cruel. How do you know that this man didn’t having children at home in need of food and he thought that was his only option? Yes, you and half the world may consider him stupid, because, and I agree, he had other options. But still, we all do stupid things our lifetime everyone of us. But just because someone did something stupid to cost them their life, hateful people judge and talk so hideously about them and their death. Would you want someone to write a terribly written “news story” making fun of how you died, talking about you like you’re nothing? Or maybe your child or someone else you love dearly dies how would you feel if you saw news story after news story of people joking about them and their death, without knowing them. Just a little for you to hopefully think about. Hopefully your one minded brain can comprehend everything I have written. If not, good luck in your life, I’m sorry that you’re so unhappy you feel you have to make fun of the death of a person. Hopefully no one does that to you when you pass.
You’re right, I didn’t consider people who might’ve knew him, and have changed the blog post accordingly. More specifically I’ve removed unnecessary insults and pointed out how the punishment did not fit the crime.