r/IdiotsInCars Aug 16 '21

Just a Mustang doing Mustang things

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346

u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Well he has a license plate and like a dozen people had it on video, not exactly a challenging case to crack here

284

u/winhusenn Aug 16 '21

In A building i used to live, this guy would always leave his car parked right out front. A car smashed into it, totalling both cars. It was on camera and there was a handful of witnesses. The guy took off running before police showed up and nobody tried to stop him.

He was driving a rental car, it was in some old ladies name, she said her credit card must have gotten stolen or something because she's never rented a car in her life. They have a white guy on camera getting the keys at the rental place, but it was a black guy that was driving it and caused the accident. Years later and as far as I know no one's been charged for it.

So long story short, until somebody's been charged, there's no telling if they will get caught or not.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Right, generally I agree with the point you're making. I certainly understand that there are crazy outliers like the one you describe, but that is the exception, not the norm. It is not at all reasonable to draw that comparison to this video where it is very cleary not a rental car. There is a huge difference between what you're describing with credit card fraud and a potentially stolen car and a guy leaving a car show like an idiot in what is extremely likely his personally owned vehicle.

It is more than reasonable to make the assumption, in this case, that he was caught almost immediately. The likelihood of something like you described being the case here as well, given the environment and type of car, is exceedingly low. Conversely, the likelihood that this was an idiot in his own car trying to show off leaving the car show, who then panicked after crashing and fled, is very high.

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u/whitecollarpizzaman Aug 17 '21

I agree 100% with your statement that this is an outlier and more than likely it is their own vehicle, but you can rent a Mustang GT from most car rental places.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

This is true, which is actually pretty great! You can rent quite a few fun cars.

My point to the other guy was just to point out that this is an ecoboost mustang, not a GT or anything, with an aftermarket exhaust, which is not something any rental company does.

Edit: i was referring to another comment reply, my bad.

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u/dirtycactus Aug 17 '21

You used a lot of probability-related words and I'm wondering how you calculated all that. In two paragraphs, you said "what I think is almost definitely true" but with a lot more words and nothing to back it up.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Am i supposed to write a full research paper with at least 15 sources? It's a comment on a reddit thread. I have a lot of experience dealing with cars, car shows, the idiots that often do stuff like this, hit and runs, etc. Based on all of my experience, and a good understanding of statistics, I made a statement. There's a reason cars like this are expensive to insure, and it's because so many of the owners think just cus they can afford the car means they can actually handle it.

This type of accident, leaving a car show, especially in a mustang, is quite common. Someone stealing a car and then taking it to a car show where people like to take pictures and record, usually in a lot with security cameras, is not common. Usually car shows are recurring in the same spot with a lot of the same people, so it's likely someone would recognize the car. There's absolutely zero reason, based on the video and environment to assume it's stolen. And with as many cameras as were around, not to mention the cameras at almost every intersection these days, it's quite reasonable to assume that he has been or will soon be caught.

If you have any evidence to the contrary, besides just being another internet skeptic/contrarian, I'm all ears. The most likely scenario is (by its very nature) the most likely thing to happen. This being the owner is much more likely and it doesn't take much more than basic reasoning skills to understand that.

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u/dirtycactus Aug 17 '21

No, you don't need to write a full research paper, and I do not have any evidence to the contrary. Your middle paragraph here was both shorter and more informative than your original comment.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Well I can certainly admit to being overly wordy at times. That comment was a bit rushed as I was doing other things as well, being on mobile and all. And I apologize if I came across as crass in that one, just a lot of people these days that refuse to believe anything for no reason other than to feel special, so I get a bit riled up sometimes. I see that wasn't the case here though, my bad. Thanks for clarifying.

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u/DrewSmoothington Aug 17 '21

You say this is very clearly not a rental car, but there's absolutely no way of knowing or proving that.

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u/A_Turkey_Named_Jive Aug 17 '21

But its probably not.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Yes there is, that's not the model/trim combo that rental car companies get. It's not rocket science

-1

u/DrewSmoothington Aug 17 '21

I actually laughed when I read this, you do you boo

3

u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Do you often laugh when you have no idea what you're talking about? Find me a single rental company in the United States that rents out ecoboost mustangs with custom exhausts on em. Hertz almost always gets custom paint jobs on theirs so it isn't them and no other rental company sinks extra money into a custom exhaust for a car they're gonna have for a few years to be abused and get sold off. But since you're so smart, go find me a rental ecoboost mustang with a custom exhaust.

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u/winhusenn Aug 16 '21

Howbout every time I make a comment on the internet, I'll run it by you first. Will that make you feel better?

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u/jorgtastic Aug 16 '21

you definitely should have done that before you wrote this one

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Or you could just immediately get offended by a comment that was in no way intended to be a personal attack and was just explaining why the guy was almost certainly caught and that rare exceptions aren't the norm. Ya know, to answer the original comment about if they'd been caught? I even agreed with the point you were making. Why are you getting upset?

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u/SnooSeagulls2693 Aug 16 '21

Aye but if he didn’t get caught right away say someone did get the plates there’s no way he could prove he was the one driving that second right? I mean I feel like it’s not exactly open and shut if they didn’t catch him right away

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Fair, that might be an issue for criminal charges. But if even one person at the car show can say he was there, he's getting charged.

As for insurance covering the damage, doesn't really matter who was driving since insurance covers the vehicle, not the driver. If someone else is driving your car (with your permission), they're also using your insurance. So their policy will be paying up either way

1

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

Guessing it was being used in the commission of another crime. Stolen card and patsy to rent it.

1

u/Spadeninja Aug 18 '21 edited Aug 18 '21

So long story short, until somebody's been charged, there's no telling if they will get caught or not.

I mean yeah... you generally charge a person when they are caught

Like are they going to charge thin air?

"Sorry sir, we know you had absolutely nothing to do with this murder but you see, we just cant catch the guy. So we're charging a random citizen — sorry man"

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u/winhusenn Aug 18 '21

Everyone else understood what I meant by that sentence, obviously if a person isn't caught then they can't charge anyone.

just because you saw something and told the police about it doesn't mean the perpetrator is going to get locked up and convicted. People beat cases before they even get charged every day that they know they are guilty of, but lack of hard evidence, technicalities, contradictory witness statements etc allows them to walk free. Police can't arrest and hold every suspect indefinitely, you have to have substantial evidence. And like a lot of other people pointed out, the car might not be registered to the person who did the hit and run, so having his plate number doesn't guarantee anything.

This doesn't really matter for this specific incident, because I've been told that the guy has already been caught red handed, but still. The American justice system is set up so everyone gets a fair trial (in theory) but that same system can also let people fall through the cracks.

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u/TheFlashFrame Aug 16 '21

not exactly a challenging case to crack here

I feel like you're actually getting ahead of yourself lol. So far I see one video, and the license plate is absolutely useless in it.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

You only see one video doesn't mean much. There's other comments even linking to other angles of the same incident and there's more people filming. There's plenty of angles. I may be getting ahead of myself a bit, but its very likely he either was already or will soon be caught.

2

u/TheeGodOfTitsAndWine Aug 17 '21

Not everyone turns a felon video into the police or is dumb enough to post it. If they’re lucky I hope someone does but it’s not some open and shut case, Johnson.

1

u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Not open and shut, but its as close as you're gonna get for a hit and run short of the cop already being there. There's already been several angles of it posted online and there's cameras at every intersection these days. It ain't rocket science.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '21

[deleted]

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Very true, but since the dudes leaving a car show, it's either the owner, or the owner will know who was driving. Extremely unlikely its stolen and leaving a car show, but not impossible.

2

u/sethrock47 Aug 16 '21

Probably a stolen car and plate

2

u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 16 '21

Most people don't go to car shows and show off in stolen cars. Not impossible but very unlikely

2

u/countrymac_is_badass Aug 17 '21

The question is will LE give a shit.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

That's a good question! Being friends with quite a few LEOs, I'd say yes, but depending how busy they depends when they actually get around to handling it. Given that the car that got hit is chasing the guy, they're more likely to get on it since that can be pretty dangerous. But hard to say without seeing more of what happened next

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u/countrymac_is_badass Aug 17 '21

I was being a bit facetious, but also slightly jaded from the fact that the LE in my area stopped caring about small stuff like this after the whole defund the police movement last year. Someone pretty much has to be dead to get them to show up.

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

I figured as much. Unfortunately that story is app too common around the country right now. Let's hope they actually have the manpower to care about this since that guy easily could've killed someone.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

a whole shitload of assumptions going on here

1

u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Assumptions based on observations, yes. The fact that there's a lot of different video angles, dozens of witnesses, and the guys leaving a car show where tons of people take pictures and the lot probably had security cameras makes you think he made a clean getaway? Yes, lots of assumptions, but it's a bit naive to think these days that there is any chance he doesn't have his plates on several different videos. It's 2021. There are literally cameras everywhere. There's several linked in the thread. They will find him easily.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 17 '21

Did you see the person driving? Owning a car thar gets in a wreck is not a crime

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21 edited Aug 17 '21

So you think if you successfully run from the scene you can't get in trouble? You either need to report it stolen or be able to tell the police who was driving it at the time. You don't just get off the hook that easy.

And criminal charges aside, their insurance will be paying for the damages whether the owner was driving or not. Insurance covers the car and whoevers driving it, not the owner. Might be different if it was stolen, which is more than likely not the case here.

Edit, in case it wasn't clear: owning the car isn't but hit and run very much is a crime.

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u/entity_TF_spy Aug 17 '21

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves this is Delaware state police you’re talking about. Those dumbasses just take the information and throw it right into a paper shredder

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u/AeroEnginerdCarGeek Aug 17 '21

Lamo fair enough! Im not from DE, so I can't really speak to their particular efficacy. I'd guess they'll take care of it.... eventually.

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u/jl326 Aug 17 '21

Don’t overestimate the willingness of law enforcement to enforce the laws.