THEFT TIME-LINE:

• 11/14/08 11:32pm: It is now officially over. RIP SEIMEI.
• 11/14/08 11:30pm: posted the video of the car being stolen to the Facebook Group.
• 11/14/08 8:55am: received the car appraisal and the settlement check. It was a bit surreal to hold a check that represented my car.
• 11/07/08 11:00am-ish: spoke with Mark from the insurance company and was advised of the appraisal numbers. Based on the NADA numbers and market sale averages… I’m pretty happy with the number and was told to expect a check soon.
• 10/16 6:00pm-ish: received two voice mails about the car. The first was a Copart rep trying to locate my car at Walgreens. The second was from the insurance rep handling the claim advising me that a sticker has been put on the car and would be picked up and crushed by the city because it is over 8 years old.
• 10/16 11:50am: spoke with the appraiser when he inspected the car. “Engine is gone. It’s totaled.”
• 10/15 9:29am: spoke with a rep at Copart and was advised that the car would be picked up tomorrow.
• 10/15 9:16am: received a VM from Copart on behalf of my insurance company. Called and got a busy signal.
• 10/14 3:00-ish: spoke with the rep handling my case and verified that the car should be inspected tomorrow.
• 10/11 10-12ish: on Tiemann Ave (under the tree on the right hand side of the page) my car, rather, the shell of my car was positively identified. The insurance company will pick it up on Monday because it was stripped. Tires, wheels, transmission, engine, seats, wing, etc. Left in the car were personal belongings. A woman stopped and told us she called 311 on Monday or Tuesday stating that the car was on the road. She stated that it was facing the correct way but was then moved down the road a bit but turned it to face the other direction. NYPD stated that no finger prints would be taken.  Pictures are available on the Facebook Group.
• 10/11 9:25pm: It appears that my car has been located by a SLC security guard behind Walgreens off of Tiemann Ave between 222 Street and Boston Road Bronx, NY. We’re heading out to verify it now.
• 10/10 1:00pm: uploaded two pictures of the thieves. The third completely concealed his face. (see below)
• 10/9 3:00pm: spoke with Captain Bruno, he’s handling the case, and discussed posting the images of the thieves online. He said I could do what I wanted but added that the images are very grainy. Regarding the grainy images he said that they have tools that may enhance the images which will aide the case.
• 10/8 1:00pm: spoke with Mike from my insurance company. He reviewed the process with me and stated that 80% of stolen cars are recovered. The status of the recovery is of course situational.
• 10/6 11:15am: the video footage and pictures of the thieves that stole my car were, in fact, given to the Yonkers Police Detective and Surveillance Departments on 10/3.
  
• 10/3 4:00pm: video footage and screen grabs of the thieves were provided on a CD to the Yonkers Police Department.
• 10/3 3:15pm: email announcement, with an image of my car, was sent to the Sarah Lawrence Community.
• 10/3 12:05pm: the theft took place at 4:00am on 10/1. The three (3) thieves, all male, were caught on camera. Two (2) were caught facing the camera the other had a hoodie on covering his head.
• 10/3 1253am: posted to LiveJournal, Craigs List, and wrote a blog (to centralize all the resources)
• 10/2 830pm: filed claim with insurance
• 10/2 800pm: report filed with Yonkers police
• 10/2 545pm: car identified as missing

Running away with a screwdriver in hand.

Reaching for the seatbelt as he drives off in my car.

My car, a 1998 Acura Integra GS-R, was stolen from a well lit parking lot that has visible cameras. How could this happen? I don’t know. Why this would happen? I have a number of feelings and ideas on that one.

People, generally, do not respect… Well, other people. Step back for a brief moment and think about it. It’s sadly true.

Make it easier… Put them in an urban environment where it is it easy to ‘disappear’ and voila. You’ve got yourself a great way to do what you want and get away with lots. Try something similar in a small community – POOF – you’re caught and you don’t even know how.

Extreme generalized statements but the sentiment, I believe, is more true than not.

So, yea, )sigh( my car was stolen.

I have done a number of things to reclaim it:

• A police report has been filed.
• My insurance company has been notified.
• I created a Facebook Group to help spread the word and get more eyes a’lookin.
• I posted a note on the Sarah Lawrence College Group wall.
• I posted on the Sarah Lawrence LiveJournal Community to get even more eyes a’lookin.
• I posted to craigslist in the NY/Westchester section. Post will expire in 7 days.
• I’ve posting this blog on my page to get centralize the effort.
• Alex B posted info and pix to a Lotus forum. Thanks Alex.

In utter honesty. If someone stole it and went for a joy ride I don’t care if you puked in the car and broke windows, etc. If you are the person that has my car… Return it to me with no questions asked. Walk away and go about your day like you never even saw me or my car.

Fortunately this happened when I was not in my car. I have no idea how I would react if I, or emma, or someone else I cared about was in the car or in the area of the car when someone was attempting to take it. It’s just a car. Yup yup yup. It’s just an item. It doesn’t define me in any way whatsoever.

To me the car represents a number of things and it feels like those memories have been lessened because of someone else’s action. In a few days I’ll feel differently and maybe even officially acknowledge the theft of my car in some way.

Right now though, I’m willing to put energy into finding it. It’s out there. At least, that’s what I’m hoping.

If you are in the Yonkers, NY or Bronxville, NY area please contact 911 if you see the car and alert them to your location and the direction my car was heading. Thanks.