Seen here
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/eastjef...4917499090.xml
Owner chases his stolen
Mustang
It runs out of gas on Causeway
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
By Michelle Hunter
East Jefferson bureau
Simon Saleh, 24, and his wife, Lyla, 21, watched dumbfounded as they heard the revving engine of their 1993 Ford
Mustang Cobra and saw the car take off down Houma Boulevard.
Instead of merely calling authorities from their Metairie apartment Sunday morning, the couple grabbed the keys to their other Mustang and gave chase.
"At the time, you don't really think about anything else," Saleh said. "I knew if that car had come up missing, not in a million years would I see it again."
And Saleh couldn't stomach the thought. He'd had the car since he was 16. He even pieced it back together by hand after an accident. So just after 5 a.m., the couple hit the streets, tailing the stolen car eastbound on West Esplanade Drive.
Saleh said he was careful to stay back. Meanwhile, Lyla Saleh was on her cell phone with 911 operators relaying information about the chase. Riding blind, so to speak, nearsighted Lyla Saleh had jumped into the car without her contact lenses or glasses.
The couple followed the white Mustang toward Causeway Boulevard, where the driver apparently began to suspect something was up, Simon Saleh said. The stolen car made a U-turn and then stopped. When Saleh did the same, he said, the stolen car accelerated through the intersection at West Esplanade and sped onto the Causeway.
Saleh continued onto the bridge behind the other car and was quickly joined by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies. But Saleh said they weren't able to catch up with the stolen Mustang, which was speeding along at about 145 mph.
As the pursuers lost sight of the car, Lyla Saleh remembered that she drove the car for most of the week without filling up the tank. Sure enough, the thieves, three of them, ran out of gas at a crossover eight miles from the south shore.
But that didn't end the chase immediately.
The three tried to run away, but they were caught by deputies with help from the Causeway Police, said Col. John Fortunato, spokesman for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.
Arrested were Renee Thompson, 17, 3207 Annunciation St.; Anthony Flowers, 21, 1719 Cambronne St.; and Michael Young, 20, of 2120 Annunciation St., all of New Orleans.
Investigators who responded to the Salehs' apartment in the 3800 block of Houma Boulevard found another stolen car, a 1995
Dodge Intrepid, with the engine running. Authorities linked it to the Mustang thieves because it was broken into in the same manner and had steering column damage like Saleh's car, arrest reports said. Stolen property also was found in the Mustang.
All three men were booked with auto theft, simple burglary, two counts of felony possession of stolen property, resisting arrest by flight and resisting an officer. Young and Flowers were booked with an additional count of possession of stolen property and injuring public records. Thompson and Young were being held Tuesday night at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center on bonds of $26,000 and $32,500, respectively. Bond information for Flowers was not available.
The gravity of the morning's events didn't really hit Lyla Saleh until she arrived home, she said. Her greatest fear had been that her husband would get too close to the car and the thieves might open fire.
Their decision is one the Sheriff's Office discourages, said Sheriff Harry Lee.
"Somebody could get hurt doing that," he said. "That's what the people pay us for."
But Saleh said he wouldn't do anything differently. The car, was returned to him.
"It was definitely worth it," he said
If it was you would you follow your stolen mustang??
Rick Kilpatrick, AAS Automotive Systems Tech, Alamance Community College, Class of 99. 06 5 speed manual Mustang with Pony pkg : GT Mac Mufflers, true duals with one custom pipe. 2.5" system. GT bumper cover, all installed March 7&8 2006. AFE Stage 1 CAI, Motoblue Underdrive pulley, GT aluminum shifter knob, honeycomb rear blackout panel,and dash kit installed. Roush hood scoop and side window louvers installed. SS taillight trim has been installed, new alum. GT steering wheel installed.
