EDITHVALE residents and a council worker chased two car thieves along Melrose Av and into the Edithvale wetlands after a car accident in Edithvale Rd, 7.40am, Sunday 11 December.
The thieves got away, and the stolen Ford Ghia was a write-off after it was crashed into a stationary black Audi sedan, causing traffic chaos on the narrow, busy road.
Police recovered builder’s tools stolen from a storage cage under the car owner’s apartment block in Dandenong Rd, Caulfield North. The thieves had earlier filled the car with $59 petrol from a Warrigal Rd, Cheltenham, service station and driven off without paying, before colliding with the Audi in Edithvale Rd. The driver was uninjured but a resident had to help the passenger out of the car. When the resident went inside to get them a drink of water they did a runner through the wetlands.
Detective Senior Constable Susanna Hughes, of Kingston CIU, said the driver appeared to be Indian, 172cm, mid-20s, black hair with acne; the passenger was Southern European, stocky build, mid-20s with short black hair and numerous facial piercings.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 14 December 2016