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[font=Arial, helvetica]Police untangle innocent 'heist'
[/font]TOWN OF CHENANGO -- Eighty-seven-year-old Jesse T. Ross of Port Crane is no criminal, but police were on the lookout for the four-door Chrysler New Yorker he was driving Wednesday morning. The New Yorker looked like his car. When he placed the key in the ignition, the engine turned over just as it did in his car. Problem was, it wasn't his car. And by the time Ross discovered the error, police already had been called by 50-year-old James F. Smith of South Street, Port Crane, the anxious owner of a missing Chrysler New Yorker. "I got into the vehicle accidentally. The key worked. It was just like mine, leather interior and power windows," Ross said.
Broome County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Williams, who was on patrol, received the call about the missing champagne-colored 1991 four-door Chrysler New Yorker.
"Suddenly, there it was, right in front of me," Williams said. "I pulled up beside him rather than activate my red lights to identify the person in case he decided to run from me."
Ross knew immediately that he was at the center of a huge misunderstanding. He'd figured out he was driving a car that wasn't his.
Here he was, a man with a clean driving record for 70 years, who couldn't remember being pulled over since he got his license in 1935, accused of driving a hot car.
Ross was pulled over as he tried to return the car to the Visions Federal Credit Union parking lot on Upper Front Street in the Town of Chenango.
About 15 minutes earlier, Ross had come out of a dollar store near the credit union. He slipped into the driver's seat, inserted his key and left when the vehicle started right up.
"Had I looked closer, I would have noticed it wasn't my car because of its condition," he said.
Ross had parked his car, also a champagne-colored Chrysler New Yorker, near one owned by Smith.
During the 5-mile trip home, Ross noticed that some items he had left in the front seat of his car were gone.
"I thought I'd been ripped off. Normally I lock the car, but it was so hot I left the windows down," Ross said.
When he got home, Ross said he began to clean up some garbage that was in the car, when it dawned on him it wasn't his garbage.
"I told my daughter about it and she ran out and said, 'Dad, that's not your car.'''
Then, the whole odd coincidence became clear to him.
"It was an honest mistake. I guess it is just one of those freaky things. I apologized to the fellow. I never felt so embarrassed, but everyone else thinks it's kind of humorous," Ross said.
Smith figured out he was in the wrong car the minute he opened the door.
"It was really strange. I left the bank and opened the door on this car and suddenly realized it wasn't mine. Mine was gone," Smith said.
Smith said he returned to the Visions Credit Union and contacted the sheriff's patrol.
"Suddenly the sheriff's patrol called the bank and said they had pulled over my car with an older man driving it and wanted my permission to allow him to bring it back to the parking lot," Smith said.
A locksmith said it's not unusual, especially in older cars, for keys to work in more than one car.
"Mathematically, I couldn't tell you, but these things happen," said Don Bennedum of Bennedum's Locksmiths Inc., State Street, Binghamton. "This was rather common- place between 1937 and 1965, when General Motors used the same code series for its keys," Bennedum said. "You don't hear nearly as much about it now, but there are only so many combinations and only so many cuts you can make on a key, and the more the key or ignition is used and worn down the better the chance of it happening."
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[/font]TOWN OF CHENANGO -- Eighty-seven-year-old Jesse T. Ross of Port Crane is no criminal, but police were on the lookout for the four-door Chrysler New Yorker he was driving Wednesday morning. The New Yorker looked like his car. When he placed the key in the ignition, the engine turned over just as it did in his car. Problem was, it wasn't his car. And by the time Ross discovered the error, police already had been called by 50-year-old James F. Smith of South Street, Port Crane, the anxious owner of a missing Chrysler New Yorker. "I got into the vehicle accidentally. The key worked. It was just like mine, leather interior and power windows," Ross said.
Broome County Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Williams, who was on patrol, received the call about the missing champagne-colored 1991 four-door Chrysler New Yorker.
"Suddenly, there it was, right in front of me," Williams said. "I pulled up beside him rather than activate my red lights to identify the person in case he decided to run from me."
Ross knew immediately that he was at the center of a huge misunderstanding. He'd figured out he was driving a car that wasn't his.
Here he was, a man with a clean driving record for 70 years, who couldn't remember being pulled over since he got his license in 1935, accused of driving a hot car.
Ross was pulled over as he tried to return the car to the Visions Federal Credit Union parking lot on Upper Front Street in the Town of Chenango.
About 15 minutes earlier, Ross had come out of a dollar store near the credit union. He slipped into the driver's seat, inserted his key and left when the vehicle started right up.
"Had I looked closer, I would have noticed it wasn't my car because of its condition," he said.
Ross had parked his car, also a champagne-colored Chrysler New Yorker, near one owned by Smith.
During the 5-mile trip home, Ross noticed that some items he had left in the front seat of his car were gone.
"I thought I'd been ripped off. Normally I lock the car, but it was so hot I left the windows down," Ross said.
When he got home, Ross said he began to clean up some garbage that was in the car, when it dawned on him it wasn't his garbage.
"I told my daughter about it and she ran out and said, 'Dad, that's not your car.'''
Then, the whole odd coincidence became clear to him.
"It was an honest mistake. I guess it is just one of those freaky things. I apologized to the fellow. I never felt so embarrassed, but everyone else thinks it's kind of humorous," Ross said.
Smith figured out he was in the wrong car the minute he opened the door.
"It was really strange. I left the bank and opened the door on this car and suddenly realized it wasn't mine. Mine was gone," Smith said.
Smith said he returned to the Visions Credit Union and contacted the sheriff's patrol.
"Suddenly the sheriff's patrol called the bank and said they had pulled over my car with an older man driving it and wanted my permission to allow him to bring it back to the parking lot," Smith said.
A locksmith said it's not unusual, especially in older cars, for keys to work in more than one car.
"Mathematically, I couldn't tell you, but these things happen," said Don Bennedum of Bennedum's Locksmiths Inc., State Street, Binghamton. "This was rather common- place between 1937 and 1965, when General Motors used the same code series for its keys," Bennedum said. "You don't hear nearly as much about it now, but there are only so many combinations and only so many cuts you can make on a key, and the more the key or ignition is used and worn down the better the chance of it happening."
Pressconects.com
https://ssl1.gmti.com/binghamton/forms/newstart.html
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