I don’t usually let myself go down rabbit holes in my personal life. I try to stay on track with my main focus, real estate, mortgages, and development, with a little crypto for fun.

But I don’t think it would be fair to write my regular blogs without at least sharing a little “insider information” for my loyal followers on my “situation” that happened last week. It was February on the way to REVN (Real Estate Vancouver Investment) in my hometown of Vancouver, WA.

I just got gas and noticed my left front tire was a little low. I was in a rush and needed to get across town, so I was only going to add air to the front left. When I was getting out, I noticed my briefcase was sitting on the passenger seat with a couple of new homebuyers’ applications I had just signed that morning, along with some financial information from my clients that I needed to scan. I thought to myself, DO NOT GO IN THE STORE AND LEAVE YOUR CAR UNATTENDED.

So, as I was getting air in my tire, a vehicle drove by and dropped off the assailant around the corner. The assailant quickly ran up as I bent down by the rear tire, jumped in the car, and started the engine.

I heard the door close, and I remembered MY BRIEFCASE!

It Was 30 Seconds

I opened the door; he put it in reverse and floored it as I lunged at him, and as the car flew backward, I kind of crumpled up on the dash/window. When I came down, I was able to shove it into park. He took one swing and knocked off my glasses, and that’s when I knew I had one chance, and this was a life or death situation.

I went straight into a headlock with my left arm while taking a couple of punches. I reached down to grab my gun that I usually carry only to realize I left it at home but came back with my finger in his temple, yelling, “I have a gun, and I’m going to blow your F#&$in brains out.” I kept throwing swings while ripping off his face cover and hat to get a good look at his face.

He had a change of thought, and his last words were, “Let me go, let me go.”

I Refused to Be a Victim

I am fortunate this ended the way it did, and I realize I took “a risk,” but I have no regrets and refuse to be called the “victim.” Like most men, I’m approaching this with a “fix it” mindset and using this negative experience to make a positive impact in Washington State instead of leaving. I’M STANDING MY GROUND.

Why Take the Risk?

Being robbed and having someone try to carjack you is a terrible feeling that is hard to explain to anyone who’s never been in that position. It can wreak havoc on your sense of security and create fear that can linger forever. I empathize with anyone who has been in this position, and the fight today goes out to those who were stolen from in the night.

I appreciate those who have reached out to join in on a calvary to go clean house, but vengeance will not fix the problem.

The State of Washington Went Too Far

The state went too far with changing laws to protect the bad guys. They allowed the media attention and pressure from George Floyd, BLM, and the WOKE to push to defund the police, restrict them from pursuing bad guys, and enable the thieves to prosper by stealing cars to use for transportation and not being able to pursue them when they drive by. (See HB-1054, and we are working on HB-1363 to at least allow a police officer to pursue without getting a superior to approve.)

Stolen Vehicles are Used to Commit Other Crimes

These stolen cars are driven to rob stores and residences. They usually dump the vehicles when they sell the goods to purchase drugs. As drug use increases, so does mental illness, homelessness, and crime.

The state and local governments want to increase taxes to pay for the homeless issues, but they could be upstream if they focused on stopping crime before it ruins the state or more people get killed.

The mainstream media, as usual, cut out my “opinions” on the crime. With news stations in the northwest, freedom of speech is not a thing.

By Bill Black

Bill Black is a Senior Mortgage Broker at NW Funding Group Inc. He has 16 years of experience in the mortgage industry and provides tailored mortgage planning solutions in Washington.

What Is Carjacking?

Carjackings are the ones that often make headlines. They occur when a person forcefully takes a vehicle directly from its driver or occupants through intimidation, threats, or violence. Imagine someone approaching your car at a red light with a gun and using physical force to remove you from the driver’s seat. That’s a carjacking.

The goal can vary, from robbing people of their belongings to using the vehicle to commit other crimes. This difference is important because carjacking is more than just taking someone’s property. It is also about threatening or hurting the people who have the car.

What Are the elements of carjacking?

Force is involved: Carjackings are forceful. Criminals might use weapons, physical violence, or the fear of harm to get the driver to give up their vehicle.

Victim is there: A defining characteristic of carjacking is that the victim is present during the crime. This places the occupants and the carjacker in a high-stress situation, often ending in violence.

Immediate Threat: Carjackings directly threaten a person’s safety, making it a dangerous and traumatic experience.

Legal Consequences: Criminals face harsher penalties for carjacking because of the violence.

What Is Auto Theft?

On the other hand, auto theft often occurs without the owner’s knowledge. Auto theft is the unlawful act of taking a vehicle with the intent to deprive the owner of its use permanently. Unlike carjacking, auto theft doesn’t involve a face-to-face confrontation with the victim.

What Are the Elements of Auto Theft?

No Victim Presence: The critical distinction in auto theft is that the owner or driver is typically absent when the crime occurs. The theft usually takes place when the vehicle is unattended.

Property Crime: Auto theft is property theft, and it focuses on the vehicle rather than the people involved. It may be traumatic, but the law doesn’t consider it as severe.

Legal Consequences: it carries lighter legal penalties than carjacking because there is no violence.

Auto theft can happen in many ways, including taking the car when it is left running at the gas pump or parked. Even if you didn’t leave the keys in it, a criminal can back up with a wrecker and drive off. Recently, people in Chicago have had their vehicles taken by tow truck drivers who showed up at auto accidents.

The major difference between carjacking and auto theft is the level of threat involved. Criminals forcefully take the vehicle in carjacking, making it a violent crime. At the same time, the driver or occupants are present, involving threats or physical force. Auto theft, however, doesn’t include violence, typically focusing on the theft of the vehicle itself.

Many people get confused and do not realize when they read news reports of carjacking that the difference between carjacking and auto theft is in the circumstances of the theft and the criminal’s intentions. Keep this in mind when you look at the statistics for carjackings because if you went inside the gas station and someone drove off with it, that was probably listed as auto theft, not a carjacking.

The alleged criminal was out on a recognizance bond for another car theft and failed to appear. This time, he is being held without bond.

Anecdotes are bad arguments and logical fallacies but can be helpfully illustrative of a problem.

Carjackings Are Easier Than Auto Thefts

It should not come as a surprise that a car thief will steal cars. As it has gotten more difficult to steal cars, it has become necessary for thieves to steal them with people in them, as the market for stolen vehicles has not decreased.

That is what makes the theft of Kias and Hyundais so notable and demonstrates that the lawsuits against them by municipalities like the city of Chicago are so inane. The difficulty in stealing cars has led to increased carjackings, which is a far greater crime than mere car theft. Kia and Hyundai have done us a favor, though not insurers, by making their cars easy to steal.

But this case also illustrates a problem with the SAFE-T Act. The alleged carjacker in this case was out on bond for another car theft in March. It turns out that car thieves like to steal cars, which might escalate to the kind of violent crime alleged in the carjacking of my friend’s daughter-in-law and her 9-month-old child.

Why an Increase in Remote Hearings for No Cash Bail

This brings us to the below order from the Illinois Supreme Court regarding the need for remote proceedings in SAFE-T Act bond hearings, starting with the statute’s effective date on September 18, 2023, following the court’s opinion in Rowe v. Raoul.

During the debate on the SAFE-T Act, they reliably informed me it would not lead to the mass release of alleged criminals currently being held in pre-trial detention. If that were true, one has to wonder why the court states the following in allowing these bond hearings pursuant to the SAFE-T Act to proceed remotely when the statute, with exceptions, requires them to proceed in person:

“Due to the anticipated volume of investigations and hearings on pre-trial detention or conditions of pre-trial release beginning September 18, 2023, and the current limited resources of circuit courts, state’s attorneys, public defenders, and other justice partners, statewide compliance with the SAFE-T Act will only be possible with the use of two-way audio-visual communication systems.”

There are a number of currents here that flow together that demonstrate a wholesale failure of the criminal justice system. I suspect the situation will only get worse.

By Donald P. Eckler

Donald “Pat” Eckler is a partner at Freeman, Mathis, & Gary LLP, focusing on professional liability defense, insurance coverage litigation, and general tort defense. He is the secretary/treasurer of Illinois Defense Counsel. Eckler also co-hosts the Podium and Panel podcast with Daniel Cotter. His views are his own and not those of his firm or its clients.

Attacker number one is out of the vehicle instantly, pointing a firearm at the driver of the car they are stealing. The victim went to pull forward but hesitated, and the gunman was on top of him at his window.

The carjackers were surprisingly well coordinated and had this scenario planned out well ahead of time. The strike was fast, and the attacker’s two vehicles boxed him in. They outnumbered him six to one, and even though there was no audio, I’m sure they were shouting at him, confusing him even more. It’s an understatement to say that the victim was caught off guard.

What were his options?

First, let me say they are all terrible options except for the first one. I am not endorsing any of them because this ambush has many moving pieces. Training and skill will make a gigantic difference in what you might do. The victim had at most a couple of seconds to respond, and even then, his options were not good.

Option 1: Don’t stop there in the first place. Knowing what I know about the rise in crime in that area, I wouldn’t have stopped in that spot.

Option 2: When he hit the gas, he should have immediately gunned it and driven through the first car. He had a brief moment where he probably could have made it but I’m guessing he wasn’t mentally prepared to ram the front of the vehicle that was about to block him in. Get off the damn X and out of the kill zone whenever possible. If you are going to fight back, your primary goal is always to get away.

Option 3: Maybe, just maybe, if he had his firearm next to him, he could have gotten a couple of shots off to buy himself some additional time to escape.

Option 4: There was a brief window of opportunity to fight back or get away at around the 45-second mark while he was lying in the street.

Option 5: Fully cooperate and pray it’s not your day to die, which is what he did, and he got lucky.

Option 6: Get into a gunfight, but your odds of survival are slim against multiple armed individuals who have you boxed in.

This guy’s chances of survival were a roll of the dice, and it could have gone either way. The days of robbing someone and the thugs taking off are over. It seems to be happening more frequently where the criminals still beat or even kill someone even after the victim has given up their belongings.

Some people will say to always fully cooperate, and that’s a personal choice you have to make. Compliance, though, could also get you killed.

Survival is a mindset. It’s better to train and think of your options in advance than to wait until the day SHTF to try and figure it out.

The bad guys are learning, and the more they get away with this, the braver they get. Considering the current political climate, you’re fooling yourself if you think things will improve anytime soon. Now that no cash bail started in Illinois last week, it’s anybody’s guess what will happen next.

What would you have done?

Thanks, @CPD1617Scanner, for not one but two excellent videos this weekend.

Several suspects approached the 44-year-old victim, attempting to steal his car at gunpoint, at around 4 a.m. in the 100 block of West Van Buren Avenue, according to a statement by Chicago police.

During the gunfight with the suspects, the man suffered a gunshot wound to the right leg. After attacking him, they drove off in a black Dodge SUV, and no one has been arrested.

They brought the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and the last report had him listed in critical condition.

This is one of a long list of self-defense shootings in the past couple of weeks in the Chicago area, including a rideshare driver yesterday and two more Illinois CCL related incidents earlier in the week.

Illinois gun owners lost another court case against the assault weapon ban in court on Thursday; nevertheless, there was another carjacking involving a firearm that WAS NOT an assault weapon.

They did not say if the victim had a concealed carry license (CCL) or FOID, which is mandatory in Illinois.

Motor Vehicle Theft Sees Alarming 232% Increase

One of the most significant areas of concern is the dramatic rise in motor vehicle theft across Chicago. Over the past four years, instances of car theft have surged by a jaw-dropping 232%. There is a difference between carjacking and motor vehicle theft, though, so carjackings are not listed. For it to be considered a carjacking, some threat of force has to be involved in taking the vehicle from the person who has it. That person could be its owner, a parking valet, or any third party who has it.

Robberies Reach a Disturbing High: A 33% Surge in the Past Month

Another troubling trend is the increase in robberies across Chicago. In the past month, Chicago has witnessed a total of 908 robberies, a 33% surge. That’s an average of 32 robberies per day, making it a matter of concern for anyone who lives, works, or visits the area. The surge in robberies has created an atmosphere of uncertainty and insecurity, leading people to wonder about their safety and the efficacy of the measures taken to address this surge. Or lack of effort.

Police Response Time Increase

There have been multiple cases of long police response times and sometimes no response at all. Recently, on the north side, a couple had to call 911 three times in 20 minutes during an attempted home break-in. The delayed response resulted in the resident shooting the intruder.

The surge in crime rates in Chicago for 2023 has raised considerable alarm bells. With motor vehicle thefts increasing by a shocking 232% in four years and robberies up by 33% in the past month alone, the safety of the city’s residents isn’t looking good.