Sounds like a good WWE name for a wrestler, "The Grappler!" or maybe a Batman villain, but in reality its a method for the police to stop a vehicle involved in a police chase.

Imagine Arkansas State boys won't use it though, they love the Pit...


https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1963601204329476314

Another Grappler deployment with dramatic results.

I read recently of a use of the Grappler... Michigan, maybe? Idunno.

At any rate, I was curious about "what happens next" in the situation. In the particular case I read about, Joey Cartheif stole a car. Police tracked him down. He wouldn't stop. They deployed the Grappler, yanked the rear axle out from under the car.

At that point, it's pretty well Mission Accomplished, right? Joey Carthief gets new bracelets, and the police chalk up a win. But what happens next for Jamie Carowner? Who's on the hook for the irreparable damage to her not-yet-paid-off car? It's clearly ruined and unfixable... what happens next in her world?

I'm not bringing this up to be accusatory or negative or anything like that, at all.
I'm just way curious how such an event plays out in the long term.

How well do these work if the thief is driving a full size truck?

Cops love this. Makes for good video. Putting a helicopter in the air is a less exciting but effective method.

quote:

But what happens next for Jamie Carowner? Who's on the hook for the irreparable damage to her not-yet-paid-off car? It's clearly ruined and unfixable... what happens next in her world?

Insurance.

No different than if the car was stolen and never recovered, recovered and stripped, wrecked with or without police involvement, or grappled.

Absent insurance I'd imagine you could sue the person who stole it, although I doubt there'd be much use in that.

I don't have an issue using the PIT, but it should often be done a lot earlier in the chase. I think the grapple is probably safer for the officers and the general public. Any police car can be used to PIT. Not every police car will ever have a grapple.

I am waiting for them to have a computer that syncs with the fleeing car that takes over the throttle and braking... defintely put a stop to people fleeing

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I read recently of a use of the Grappler... Michigan, maybe? Idunno.

At any rate, I was curious about "what happens next" in the situation. In the particular case I read about, Joey Cartheif stole a car. Police tracked him down. He wouldn't stop. They deployed the Grappler, yanked the rear axle out from under the car.

At that point, it's pretty well Mission Accomplished, right? Joey Carthief gets new bracelets, and the police chalk up a win. But what happens next for Jamie Carowner? Who's on the hook for the irreparable damage to her not-yet-paid-off car? It's clearly ruined and unfixable... what happens next in her world?

I'm not bringing this up to be accusatory or negative or anything like that, at all.
I'm just way curious how such an event plays out in the long term.

I's a loss the moment it's stolen.
If you get lucky like I did with my Land Cruiser when all they did was break out a window, screw up the ignition switch and take the wheels then it's not totaled by the insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

At that point, it's pretty well Mission Accomplished, right? Joey Carthief gets new bracelets, and the police chalk up a win. But what happens next for Jamie Carowner? Who's on the hook for the irreparable damage to her not-yet-paid-off car? It's clearly ruined and unfixable... what happens next in her world?

Victim gets fucked TWICE. They get to lose their property, owe the deductible AND any residual amount owed and get to start over from scratch with NOTHING. Any damage done by their car, their insurance is 100% responsible for and when the damages exceed the insurance, they are responsible for it as criminals never have anything.

If the car is paid off, you have to take a "settlement" for their "value" of your car minus the deductible.

Sometimes they don't cover the towing and storage of the destroyed vehicle, so you're on the hook for that, too. The wrecking yard will take you to court in a new york minute.

If you don't have full coverage, you're fucked nine ways to Sunday.

Criminal is out on cashless bail before the car cools off and doing it again for the fifth time that day.

I thought they tried this years ago, and stopped after someone was killed, when the grapple went into the car, and after an unmarked car tried it on an SUV, and got dragged around.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
Sometimes they don't cover the towing and storage of the destroyed vehicle, so you're on the hook for that, too. The wrecking yard will take you to court in a new york minute.

Well, now I'm curious about that statement. (And I apologize to HRK for drifting his thread.)

Johnny Carthief nicks Jamie Carowner's ride, gets it grappled, and it ends up in the towing company's storage lot. Jimmy Towtruck says, "you gotta pay up for storage." Now I wonder if Jamie's pal Bubba Bigtruck (yeah, I'm having fun making up names) could come along with truck and trailer and say, "Fine. I'll scoop it up and get it out of your lot, we're not paying for storage."

Is there anything that says Jamie and Bubba can't just go get the wreckage? I'll assume that answer is "yes, the insurance company owns it now," at which point my question becomes more of a statement: the insurance company should pay for the storage bill. Right?

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

Is there anything that says Jamie and Bubba can't just go get the wreckage? I'll assume that answer is "yes, the insurance company owns it now," at which point my question becomes more of a statement: the insurance company should pay for the storage bill. Right?

If you only have minimums, you owe it all.

Make sure you have towing on the minimal policy. Tabitha's car got destroyed in a wreck in Mississippi and I was on the hook for $500+ because they got it on a Friday and refused me towing to another location until Monday. It had minimums because it was 15+ years old.

Hm. Maybe I didn't ask my question well. (And I apologize again to HRK.)

Car gets crunched, tow company puts it in their lot for "storage" and starts the meter, knowing it'll be days or weeks before the insurance company does anything for the insured, meanwhile racking up nice fees for the tow company.

The insured says, "I've got room, I'll store it and not rack up these charges. I'm bringing a trailer."

Is someone going to fight the insured on that, with some "you're not allowed to do that, only we can do that" story?

Hook'em Danno!

quote:

Car gets crunched, tow company puts it in their lot for "storage" and starts the meter, knowing it'll be days or weeks before the insurance company does anything for the insured, meanwhile racking up nice fees for the tow company.

The insured says, "I've got room, I'll store it and not rack up these charges. I'm bringing a trailer."

There's nothing that says the tow company has to store the car. If you were notified quickly enough you could have them tow it to your home, to a body shop, or anywhere else you wanted. You'd only owe the tow bill.

You likely won't be notified that quickly, in which case you could pick it up yourself, or have them tow it again to wherever you wish. Again, you'd only owe what you owe to that point.

I remember years ago when I was in the towing business. Guy's daughter totaled a small car that wasn't worth much. Liability only. We got it back to the lot when he called to see if he could pay the tow bill and pick it up. He showed up in his work truck. One of those big roll off dumpster trucks. He set the dumpster on the ground, opened the doors on the end, we put the car in the dumpster, and he loaded it back up. Don't know if he was taking it home or straight to scrap, but it was the first and only time I've seen a car in a dumpster.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
There's nothing that says the tow company has to store the car.

{snip}

you could pick it up yourself, or have them tow it again to wherever you wish. Again, you'd only owe what you owe to that point.

Thank you. Pessimistic Me was figuring it would be different.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
we put the car in the dumpster

Only nuance is tow yards have daily fees plus the original tow, so you'd owe that.

quote:

Only nuance is tow yards have daily fees plus the original tow, so you'd owe that.

Here's another nuance. Generally, you're not allowed to remove anything from your vehicle at the tow yard until the tow bill has been paid. Insurance is generally in no rush to do this, so if there's anything that you need out of your car after an accident remove it before they take it. Otherwise, you'll need to be prepared to pay the bill yourself and seek reimbursement from your insurer.

I don't see it as a deterant.
At all
Prohibiting future criminal behavior involves
Them sacrificing a lung or kidney or cornia.