ANAHEIM, California – A man suspected of trying to steal a vehicle’s catalytic converter in California has died when the car fell on him, police said.
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According to Sgt. Shane Carringer of the Anaheim police, the body of a man was found under a Toyota Prius at a car repair shop around 06:20 on Wednesday, reports KABC.
The man, whose name was not released, was found dead under the car, the television station reported. According to Carringer, it looked like the man was trying to steal the catalytic converter when the jack he was using failed and he was crushed under the weight of the vehicle, reports KABC.
Sean Harp, who works at the complex where the incident took place, was in his office when a ‘fairly insane’ person warned him that he had found a dead man under the car, reports KTLA.
Harp investigated and said he “saw the man’s torso under the vehicle with his feet and … legs exposed,” the television station reported. “It was clear he was devastated.”
Authorities said catalyst thefts have increased as thieves search for metals in the car parts they can sell.
“They are filled with precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium,” David Kilbourne, who runs the foreign transport service in Thousand Oaks, told KABC. “I believe they melt it down and separate the metals and sell them because they are worth more than gold.”
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department recently arrested nearly 20 people in connection with catalyst theft and recovered 250 of them worth $ 750,000, reports KTVU.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, the value of the metals in the catalysts has risen. Recyclers will pay up to $ 250 per catalyst, the agency told KNBC.
According to the NICB report, thefts increased from 1,298 in 2018 to 14,433 in 2020.
“As the value of the precious metals found in catalytic converters increases, so does the number of thefts of these devices,” the NICB said in a statement. “There is a clear link between times of crisis, limited resources and supply chain disruption that are driving investors to these precious metals.”
An official from the Sheriff’s Department in Los Angeles County told KTLA last week that the first-generation Prius is among the more targeted cars because it is known that the catalytic converter contains more precious metal.