SPOKANE, Wash. – A local car lot manager is speaking out after thieves were caught on camera stealing a truck off of his lot earlier this week, damaging several other cars in the process.
“You’re sick to your stomach, you’re thinking about all the things you’re going to have to pay for, all of the things you’ve already paid for,” Calvin Sundquist, manager of Automotive Specialties near Division St. and Country Homes Blvd., said his reaction to news of the theft was.
The security camera video shows three people hotwiring a blue 2004 Dodge pickup, then crashing it into two other cars on their way out of the lot, severely damaging them in the process.
“They accordioned one of my BMWs on the concrete pillar across the street,” Sundquist said. “It’s a total loss.”
More damage was seen scattered across the lot’s pavement, from a gray Cadillac’s rear bumper.
“It affects the customers, you know?” Sundquist said. “It affects the money I can spend on them, what I can do for them.”
Sundquist says they refurbish the cars they buy in order to increase their value.
“Now you know if you get it back it’s going to be worth half, because I have to report it as stolen,” he added.
Still though, Sundquist is hopeful he can get the truck back: “because there was only a little fuel in it, and I was hoping maybe I could drive around looking for it and they might’ve dumped it somewhere.”
Automotive Specialties is offering a $500 reward for information on the truck’s whereabouts, and even a $1000 reward for information on any of the three thieves that were caught on camera.
“Tell me where it’s at,” Sundquist said. “I have the key, I don’t mind getting it. If I can get some of it back, there’s a chance I can sell the thing, or at least recover some of it.”
Sundquist has filed a police report with the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, so if you have information that can help detectives you’re also asked to contact Crime Check, and reference case number #2024-10025008.
