Calgary man whose truck was stolen twice in same morning recounts bizarre tale

James Ryan was surprised to wake up and find his truck had been stolen, then relieved to see the thief had only made it a few feet down the block before losing control and abandoning the vehicle.

Then he wasshocked when the truckwas stolen againwhile he waited for police to arrive.

The bizarre experience ended with Ryan chasing his truck down a snowy suburban street as the suspect in the second theft spun the vehicle's tires in a futile attempt to get away, before abandoning the vehicle, too,and fleeing on foot.

The Cranston residentrecounted the whole story on the Calgary Eyeopener, saying it all began when he used the remote starter on his Ford F350 on Tuesday morning.

When Ryan left for work a short time later, he noticed the truck was no longer parked in front of his home but, oddly,he could still hear it running.

"SoI walk around my garage and I can see my truck is in front of my neighbour's house, crashed into his car,"Ryan said."I walk up to my truck and immediately I see on my driver's side door, the lock had been punched in."

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There was minimal body damage to both vehicles but Ryan said the thief had severely damaged his truck's ignition, so he couldn't turn the truck off.

He talked with his neighbour before going back inside to call police and his insurance agent, while his neighbour left for work.

"[The truck] was no longer stuck behind my neighbour's car," Ryan said. "Now it's just sitting there running and I can't lock it, I can't turn it off, nothing."

'Oh my God, here we go again'

While waiting with his wifein the garage for officers to arrive, a noise from outside made Ryan's heartsink.

"All of a sudden I hear my truck start revving to the moon," he said. "So Igo running outside... and I can see my truck is now driving down the street. There's somebody in there.

"I'm like 'Oh my god, here we go again.'"

Ryan gave chase, and catching up to the truck wasn't actually that hard, as the thief had failed to switch the vehicle into four-wheel-drive andwas spinning the tires as it made its way slowly up the snowy street.

"So I run up and I literally caught my truck," Ryan said. "I'm yelling, I'm screaming, I'm going crazy. I'm banging on my truck. And I'm getting up to the driver's side door and the one thing I know is that door's not locked they can't lock it so I'm going to open this door and I'm just thinking to myself, I hope this isn't a giant person."

'Fastest Olympic runner I've ever seen'

As he approached the driver's side door, Ryan said the thief "panicked" and floored the accelerator, spinning the tires even more and launching the car into a "complete 360," bouncing the vehicle up onto the sidewalk and onto another neighbour's front yard.

"Once it spun around, I saw it was a female," he said.

"She jumps out and takes off down the street the fastest Olympic runner I've ever seen at this point and I've been yelling all the way up my street, I've been running through snow, so I'm already gassed."

The woman managed to get away on foot, but police found and arrested a 28-year-old woman matching the suspect's description later that morning.

She facescharges of theft of a motor vehicle, driving without a licence, driving without insurance, and being unlawfully at large.

Police said it's unclear if she's connected to the first theft, or just happened across the running vehicle.

Kind neighbour

While he was chasing his truck down, Ryan said a bystander called police.

She also served as a main witness for police, but Ryan never got her name.

All he remembers is that she had long, brown hair.

He's hoping to thank her for her assistance andasked that if she reads this, to get in touch by emailing CBC at calgarynewstips@cbc.ca.