Crime Foiled in First-Ever Technological Intervention: in Visalia!

Sometimes a town is remembered in history thanks to a seminal event. Kitty Hawk, North Carolina will forever be remembered as the site of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Lexington, Massachusetts for the "shot heard 'round the world" and Lake Placid, New York for the "miracle on ice." Perhaps my town of Visalia, California will assume a similar position in the pantheon of remarkable events as the place where remote technology first stymied a carjacker. You can read the AP story on it here.

Jose Ruiz and his cousin were sitting in his 2009 Chevy Tahoe in a parking lot when a 21-year old man approached, leveled a shotgun at them and ordered them out. He had them empty their pockets. Then he got in the SUV and drove off.

Ruiz ran to a nearby pay phone and saw a sheriff's deputy on break who called Visalia police. Police spotted the truck a few miles down the road, and when they tried to flag it down the driver sped off at high speed. Little did he know that Ruiz was informing the cops he had OnStar for the vehicle. Once dispatchers got in touch with the OnStar operator and Ruiz gave his password, the remote service disabled the Tahoe's accelerator and it coasted to a stop.

The suspect fled into residential backyards in the dark, hopping over fences to elude police. The chase ended when he finally vaulted over a fence into a swimming pool and was quickly captured. "He wouldn't have pulled over if OnStar wouldn't have shut the vehicle down," commented Visalia police Sergeant Steve Phillips. The capability prevented a perilous high-speed pursuit that would have placed officers, innocent drivers and even the suspect himself in danger.

This was the first such incident of its kind but won't be the last. High technology kept people safe and helped take a threatening criminal off the streets. Score one for the future.