A startrescue.co.uk story...

A Utah pick-up truck driver decided to take drastic action when a 14-year old joyrider threatened the safety of children playing in a park – by crashing into the offender’s vehicle.

Two clips of video show how fast the white hatchback was going as it careened through a busy park on Saturday. The woman recording the first clip can be heard telling nearby children to get out of the way of the car.

The second clip reveals the dramatic moment when the pick-up truck driver – who had heard the emergency police call out on a special police scanner mobile phone app – met the hatchback at a junction and crashed into it. The impact apparently knocked the pick-up onto two wheels – so the incident is likely to have caused even more significant damage to the smaller vehicle – although it is obscured by the pick-up in the clip. Police cars can be seen in close pursuit.

The man behind the wheel of the pick-up truck was one Bryson Rowley who spoke to local TV station KSTU, describing how he had been using a police scanner.

According to a Syracuse Police Department officer, Mr Bryson “could see it [the hatchback] was turning back into the park, and he did not want the car to hit all of the children, or any of the children, and he actually pulled his truck in the way so the car collided with the truck.”

The alleged perpetrator’s grandfather reported the car – a Hyundai Veloster – missing on Saturday afternoon. The $20,000 car was spotted later in a park filled with children.

While such incidents are thankfully rare on both sides of the Atlantic, it nevertheless demonstrates how quickly vehicles can be rendered inoperable by a road traffic incident.

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