Did I Do The Right Thing???????

[au11futura]

Hey guys and girls.

well funny story, i was leaving a sertain fast food outlet today when the guy in front of me stalls his car then restarts it puts it in reverse and smacks me.

then instead of stopping he takes of so natrualy i took of after him and he then stopped outside a shopping centre we got and i asked for his details only to find out he was fifteen years old. So i parked his car in the shopping centre car park held him there and called the cops to come and get him.

Whilst waiting i still had his keys and he pulled the crying game but stuborn old me didn't fall for that and handed the keys to the cops.

know i have to chase his pearents for damage done to my car.

So did i do good or bad by keeping him there?

[AU1XLS]

A good thing

[pauljh74]

The only thing the 15 year old was upset about was being caught. If he was actually sorry he wouldn't have taken off. He had the chance to face up to what he had done to that moment in the drive-thru and decided to run, which has made it worse, now the cops are involved. If it was only the bingle, it could have been sorted out between yourself and his parents. Don't feel guilty for his screw up. He'll get a slap on the wrist for it anyway, but hopefully won't do it again.

Most of us at 15 given the opportunity of taking the family car for a joyride while the parents were away would leave the car in the garage, knowing full well that taking the car would get us in trouble with the parents, and any incidents while driving would get us in trouble with the police. Copping it from the parents and losing their trust is enough to deter most of us.

[KPOJ]

He smashed your car, lock the bugger up. (any pics?)

BTW I bet he see's you as a grumpy old basted

[CHARGED TERRA]

Definately did the right thing mate. If he couldnt even manage to drive the car forwards like he should have.

Imagine what could of happened to some poor unsuspecting person (like yourself) out on the main road doing 60+km/h when he lost control or miscalculated yet another simple driving task.

You could have very well saved a life today.

Cheers

Adam

By the way, I wish you luck with getting your car repaired. Hope it all goes smoothly for you.

[michael_ozzie]

Its the right thing, no matter who the person is, young or old, male or female.
Just hope that the parents are agreeable, because if it comes down to a "he said" "she said", then there may be more problems than damage.

[au11futura]

yeh he did dent the front bumper abit behind the licence plate not very vissable and a minor scratch come day time ill take a few snapshots, but i just bought the car and planned on keeping it for a long time, mind you its in immac cond for an ex council car.

Also yes i did drive at fifteen but on a farm and with dad by my side.

Im now 28 and have had no accidents from the time i got my licence that were my fault because im always thinking i dont want to damage my car therefor i always was cautious on the road.

Im strongly suspecting hes damaged the supports behind the bumper even though there is hardly a vissible sign i did hear a crunch.

It makes me wander how kids are being raised theese days.

I asked him if he watches the news and how many teens he sees causing worse accidents he said yes but he was only getting something to eat and that he saw nothing wrong with his actions.

[pauljh74]

Originally Posted by au11futura

I asked him if he watches the news and how many teens he sees causing worse accidents he said yes but he was only getting something to eat and that he saw nothing wrong with his actions.

He could walk/jump on a bicycle. He needs to realise that taking the car is not an option. Hopefully the cops will make him realise this.

[au11futura]

Originally Posted by pauljh74

He could walk/jump on a bicycle. He needs to realise that taking the car is not an option. Hopefully the cops will make him realise this.

Yeh true i just feel now as i have to go andrunaround to get mine fixed..

[XRSIKS]

Champion to restrain yourself.... I would have kicked the snot out of him

[CHARGED TERRA]

Originally Posted by S&BXR6

Champion to restrain yourself.... I would have kicked the snot out of him

Then you would have been the one in Handcuffs in the back of the wagon :

He did the right thing and basically made a Citizens Arrest. :

[DJR MAN]

You did the right thing.

A kid on his pushbike smashed into my car whilst waiting for traffic to clear, and smashed a light on the car. He would not give me his name - flatly refused. Fortunately a police car soon passed by, they got the info from him - he was known to them too.
But at the end of the day no one coughed up to fix the light - in my situation it just wasn't worth the greif.

[Boss 302]

Yes you did the right thing, some one could have been seriously hurt if he had an accident.

[svo supporter]

You definately did the right thing. As for another members comments to do with a he said she said scenario. He's in the wrong regardless of who hit who. He didn't have a licence to begin with, so he shouldn't have been driving. Pure and simple.

As for paying for the damage. I do hope the parents cough up, or the courts impose restitution costs to you.

Goodluck with it all and hopefully you get your car repaired without digging into your pocket.

[JC]

Another "you did the right thing" here. What amazes me is that he didn't pull a knife or gun on you.

Just out of interest, how do you manage to restrain him until the cops came? I'm only wondering from an assault charge point of view, and/or kidnap - the way the law is these days, the crook seems to get more rights than the victim.

Good on you for having the guts to chase him. I would have probably taken a picture on my phone and then rung the cops with the details.

***edit***
Well, I notice there's a "No" vote, but no corresponding post. Someone too gutless to tell us why this was not the right thing to do?

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by JC

***edit***
Well, I notice there's a "No" vote, but no corresponding post. Someone too gutless to tell us why this was not the right thing to do?

Is it a relevative of the person in question which this thread is about. There's always someone that doesn't approve of these sorts of things.

The question about the restraining. Yeah, interesting point but it might have been an "oldhat" copper that attended. That might explain a bit. _2:

[motorcycles4eva]

i voted yes.. if you didn't then it would encourage car thef (whoever asks how.. . did his parents lend him the car?)
/ and possibly a fatal accident.. if you don't teach these kids then they think they can do anything and thats the problems these days..!@!@@ i remember getting my **** kicked from my dad when i stole a he'man figurine many moons ago (yea i'm old.. so what!!! lol).. i understand it now but you know the rest..
what if he ran over someone and took off?? we'd blame who exactly???
good onya mate!!!
when we do wrong i'm sure we know about it!!! lol..

[Grechie]

You know you did the right thing, there shouldnt be a "no" vote

[Stefan]

I just checked the results 47 agree and 1 disagrees, looks like the kid is even a forum member.

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by Stefan

I just checked the results 47 agree and 1 disagrees, looks like the kid is even a forum member.

Well you only had 2 options in my way of looking .... calling the cops or breaking some bones! Possibly the 1 or 2 thats said NO wanted to see some damage to the kid so calling the cops was out .......

So with only these two options ..... you did the right thing.



| [/url] |

[dave289]

I would have called his parents first and try and resolve it that way. If nothing came of this then I would have called the cops.

[XRSIKS]

Originally Posted by dave289

I would have called his parents first and try and resolve it that way. If nothing came of this then I would have called the cops.

Unfortunate that in the eyes of most parents, their kids can do no wrong...

Cops For The Win!

[au11futura]

Originally Posted by dave289

I would have called his parents first and try and resolve it that way. If nothing came of this then I would have called the cops.

Na mate pearents would of prob offered cash to keep it hush im not about that at all, thats why we have driving laws and age limmits.

I think a ride in the back of a cop car hopefully would of taught him not to do it again.

[747jet]

Originally Posted by dave289

I would have called his parents first and try and resolve it that way. If nothing came of this then I would have called the cops.

thats whats i would of done now the kid has to live with that for the rest of his life we where all young at one stage and we have all up at one stage

[Yaw]

I voted yes you did the right thing, but a couple of points here, (I will also point out given the same situation and oportunity I would have done the exact same thing as you) UNLESS you made an offical citizens arrest you could have gotten yourself in trouble for deprabation of liberty by forcing him to stay.
A lot of people have said you may need to "fix it up" with his parents.
This is a misconception, morally they should fix you up, but legally they do not have to. You cannot hold a parent responsible for their kids action. We have a "happy 18th birthday file" for situations like this at work. It is very difficult to recover from a minor. So if they are old enough to knowingly have done the wrong thing (eg this type of situation as opposed to a 3 year old that has maybe knocked the hand brake off or something) we will wait until they are 18 to start the recovery procedure. legally there is 7 years to make a recovery.
Best advice I can give you is to make an insurance claim, tell your insurer exactly what happened, providing you can give them the name, address and rego of the third party at fault you should have no excess to pay or any affect to your no claim bonus, however, if you did not get his name or address and relied on the police getting it and putting it in thier report, don't count on the excess being waived, because even when the insurer company gets the report his details will be blacked out because he is a minor.

[Springfield_Johny]

Originally Posted by au11futura

know i have to chase his pearents for damage done to my car.

So did i do good or bad by keeping him there?

Definately did the right thing. Is your car insured? Talk to your insurance company about making a claim for the repairs. You may find it to be a faultless excess and most insurance companies guarantee the repairs, rather than go as a third party. This is what you pay your premiums for.

And I'll bet his parents are really glad he got caught by someone responsible after a minor mishap rather than someone who would have kicked his backside or been involved in a high speed chase with the cops killing himself and/or someone else.

[OLDFORDNUT]

Yes of course you did the right thing,at the end of the day We only learn from your experiences both good and bad,hopefully the young kid who might have been heading down the wrong track in life got such a scare he never does anything illegal again,
you never know what effect it has had but i bet it makes him at least stop and think before doing anything silly again.

[Coyote mk3]

'Course you did the right thing. I am 16 and recently got my L's.
I have known how to drive a manual since I was around 9 years old. But one thing I have, and i know a lot of teens don't, is respect, for my parents and for cars. - and I wasn't stupid enough to take one of the cars out for a drive on the road. (not all of us teens are idiots)

If you had not held the kid there, he would have done a runner with the car back home and when you called in the plates,the parents would have said that they were out, so there was no way the car was being driven.

[JC]

2 No votes! Maybe his parents are forum members.

[56L]

you done the right thing
picture it this way ,just say if you had let him go and then later on heard that he was in an accident you would then feel slightly guilty for not holding him,kids that are game enough to do those things at a very young age need to be pulled into line as soon as possible otherwise they will turn into one bad EGG