Corvette Z06 Coupe

Make
Chevrolet
Segment
Coupe

In Huntsville, Alabama, a 15-year-old stole a 2016 Chevrolet Z06 Corvette from a dealership, which led to a car chase ending with a crash. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, according to a report from WAFF 48 News. The Z06 was taken from a dealership called Patriot Automotive after, according to first responders, the juvenile had "found the keys." Security footage revealed the keys were "found" after smashing a window. This should serve as another reminder to dealerships to either lock keys away properly or remove them from the premises overnight.

The chase started around 3.30 am and ended around 4.00 am when the juvenile crashed the car on the I-565 freeway off-ramp, and this is where things start to become interesting. Check out a couple of quotes from Brent Patterson of the sheriff's office.

"Vehicle pursuits are the last thing we want any of our personnel involved in," he told WAFF-TV News. Then, in a different breath said: "In this day and time, what criminals don't understand is that the new generation of technology is cameras. And we're catching a lot of individuals because of cooperation, not only with the public but with the media as well."

Our takeaway here is that his two statements suggest chasing the car was unnecessary - he doesn't want his officers involved in chases, and they catch a lot of people based on video camera footage. The amount of police chases that end in wrecks (let alone involving high performance cars) is high and endangers the public as well as police officers and, less sympathetically but also just as human, the criminal. The damage is also costly both to the state and the victims.

It would be interesting to know how much information the police officers pursuing the car had, as it's incredible that a 15-year-old boy managed to keep control of the car for around 30 minutes while being chased. The previous Chevrolet Z06 Corvette is a beast with its supercharged V8 making 650 horsepower with 650 lb-ft of torque to the rear wheels. That's a handful for experienced drivers to push hard, let alone under the stress of being chased by the cops.