‘I threw him to the ground and he bounced’: Blokes stop kids after car theft
A pair of North Queensland blokes performed a citizens’ arrest after a group of kids in an allegedly stolen car collided head-on with another vehicle outside a popular restaurant.
Townsville
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A pair of North Queensland blokes performed a citizens’ arrest after a group of kids in an allegedly stolen car collided head-on with another vehicle outside a popular restaurant.
It is alleged the group of young offenders stole a Holden Commodore.
Jason Tucker, a Mount Isa local holidaying in Townsville with his mum, spotted the group pulling out of the carpark about 1pm in the stolen car and decided to tail them in his own vehicle.
“I saw them as they were pulling out of the carpark and I’d say that they had car jacked the car because they had a lady chasing them with her hands up in the air,” he said.
“I said to my mum, this car has just been stolen so we have to get up behind them just to see where they are going.
“As we approached The Watermark I yelled out, ‘this car is stolen’ at the top of my lungs and said ‘call the cops’.”
In an attempt to get away, the kids allegedly reversed into Mr Tucker’s car before veering onto the wrong side of The Strand and colliding head on with a Toyota Rav4 outside The Watermark.
Watermark patron Steven Taylor was enjoying a smoke outside the pub when he heard Mr Tucker yell out to the crowd.
“Old mate in the silver car said the car was stolen and I was out here having a cigarette so I ran over and tried to grab the keys out of the ignition and they have tried to squeeze through the bottleneck,” Mr Taylor said.
The five youths then jumped out of the car.
Mr Taylor tried to apprehend the boy driving the car by throwing him to the ground but the kid managed to get away.
He held the girl down until police arrived.
“The driver was half way out the window and I threw him to the ground and he bounced, I don’t know how he got back up,” Mr Taylor said.
As the youths fled the scene towards the south end of The Strand, Mr Tucker said he saw a white car mount the gutter and drive along the foreshore.
Acting Sergeant Wade Jackson from Townsville Police Station said it was understood the rest of the kids had fled in that vehicle.
He said the police were actively searching for the young offenders.
“We have performed patrols of the area, our last information is that they had run on foot, subsequent to those patrols, someone flagged us down and said they had observed them get into a vehicle and leave the area,” he said. Police arrested three more youths on Friday afternoon, after setting up a cordon in Heatley and chasing the kids through residential backyards. Two 13-year-old boys, an 11-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl are expected to be charged with multiple offences.
Originally published as ‘I threw him to the ground and he bounced’: Blokes stop kids after car theft