How far could they possibly get?

At 2:34 this morning my phone started blowing up with calls and alerts from the security system in the shop. I managed to shake my head clear enough to understand what was going on and hotfooted it to the building. The alerts indicated a intrusion via the southwest bay door. By the time I arrived the fire department was on scene and I found this

Oh something came in all right. That parts washer on the right holds 350 gallons and weighs about 1000lbs dry. The sandblast cabinet was moved 15 feet and the $10k vapor blasting machine was punted an equal distance. I spotted the license plate on the ground first and thought, at least we have some identifying material and then I noticed this bit against the wall

We all said "Well, they couldn't have made it far without this".

Cops were called, photographs taken, the bay door company was contacted. 45 minutes later the cops send me this photo.

Drunk dude parked at his apartment complex like nothing was wrong. How far did he make it? 2.2 miles!

We are working on getting the videos off our CCTV system.  He overcooked the turn onto the street, fishtailed and blasted through the bay door. The interior video shows a passenger jump out and bolt. The driver took a good 5 tries to get out of the building

We were extremely lucky that I had to move a bunch of cars around before I left. Earlier in the day there was a Citroen SM, a 34 MG PA and a freshly restored MG TD right in front of the bay door.

For reference this is what that corner of the shop usually looks like

Updates as they come in. I need to go get some coffee

wow...  That could have been super nasty in hindsight.  There's some serious $$$ in restorations in that garage, haha!

Well at least the Ram appears to do what it says on the box pretty effectively.  Hopefully the dumbass driving it has decent liability coverage.

My thoughts in these situations are " I hope the police find them before I do." 

Glad no one of value was injured..

Me thinks you need some landscaping boulders to keep traffic out of the shop.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

They should have stayed with Dodge. 
 

That really sucks, glad there wasn't more damage.

OMG how did they make it 2.2 miles hammered on three wheels?  I am just amazed.  Sorry for the BS you are about to go thru to try and get made whole.

That's almost funny. 

Question:  How do you drive ANY distance missing a front wheel?  Ballast the opposite rear corner?  Somehow, I have managed to live this long and never had to address this particular challenge.

HOLY CARP!

That's ridiculous.  I'm sorry for your damage but really happy that none of the cars was inside.

Just, wow.  Truly drunk driving like that should be a permanent loss of license, and jail if you are ever caught driving again.

Is there any damage to the structure of the building?

Wow. Just wow.

I'm amazed he made it almost all the way into a parking spot.

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

Looks like they just glanced the door opening on their way in. That little curb stub is likely what disassembled the front suspension. 

It is a stout old concrete industrial building from the 20s. It seems to have shrugged it off.

Interesting correlation 

Ram 2500 Drivers Have the Most DUIs, More Than Twice the National Average:

I have a different therory.  The truck never hit your building, just the tire did.  

Is it possible that the driver struck the curb so hard it sheared the front wheel off the truck.  Then, the seared wheel continued to hit the building and break the door?  

The damage to the door looks too low for the high hooded truck to have come through the door.  

Similar:

84FSP said:

OMG how did they make it 2.2 miles hammered on three wheels?  I am just amazed.  Sorry for the BS you are about to go thru to try and get made whole.

I guess you've never watched any cop show, police chase, or youtube videos. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LmkeEqBdtI

In reply to John Welsh :

I have video of the truck inside the building and his 5 minutes of attempts to get back out. 

Duke said:

Just, wow.  Truly drunk driving like that should be a permanent loss of license, and jail if you are ever caught driving again.

They may not even charge the guy unless the video can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drunk was driving or the person admits to it. Without proof, any dime store lawyer can get the case dropped so the DA won't bother to prosecute. 

I followed a drunk home one evening while on the phone with the police. IDed the driver to the cop that showed up and offered to testify. They didn't even bother to write a ticket because they had no proof beyond my statement. The cop said if they don't see it, it didn't happen.

Anybody need a cheap Challenge entry engine swap from a Ram?

Trent said:

In reply to John Welsh :

I have video of the truck inside the building and his 5 minutes of attempts to get back out. 

Well, that solves that!!!

Sorry for your loss but for the rest of us, the video sound humorous.  

That truck must have been gouging a furrow all the way to dude's apartment...

Are wrecked parts found in your building Challenge budget exempt? Asking for a friend.

So around 4:30AM we were out front of the building talking to the police and a flatbed tow truck came by with the Ram on the back. An officer flagged them down and had them pull into the parking lot and we chucked the myriad of parts left behind into the truck. 

So, no free truck parts. On a positive note, less trash for us to deal with!

This thread is useless without the 5 minutes of video.

Ugh.  My friend woke up to a good 60ft of fencing missing in front of his house a few months ago.  When my daughter saw it, she wondered if he had gone back to get more!

Somehow this guy flew off the road, missed a telephone pole by inches, mowed down 60ft of fence, then hit a tree hard enough to destroy the radiator.  There was a trail of coolant leaving the scene.  They caught the guy.  I never heard the details but I assume he was parked in the nearest lot because that engine would not have lasted long.

In his case, the luck was with him that the horses they board weren't in that part of the property that night.

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

My father told me the story of a local cop who was a notorious drunk back in the '50s or '60s.

One night he wrapped his patrol car around a telephone pole in front of a bar, radioed in the accident, and then he walked inside and threw down a few shots to calm his nerves.

He had alcohol on his breath, but when did it happen?