Winter2024_SSCWN_web
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DARWIN at<br />
the<br />
CARWASH<br />
OUR<br />
SUPPORTOUR<br />
ADVERTISERS<br />
The investment in security cameras pays off for carwash operators<br />
(and the readers of <strong>SSCWN</strong>) with these mostly frustrating, sometimes funny -- and always cautionary<br />
-- stories of Darwins Caught on Camera. Images of these criminals and/or their vehicles were given<br />
to police and the press. Many have been caught thanks to the prowess of security cameras.<br />
Let’s give a round-of-applause to this car wash owner, as he not only caught a<br />
litterer on camera, but also got him sent to jail! In Huntington, Tennessee, Christopher Ethan Johnson,<br />
was arrested back on January 14 for littering and vandalizing the A1 Pro Wash. According to The Banner,<br />
police were dispatched when business owner Anthony Thomas said he had a person on his video camera<br />
dumping garbage in one of the bays.<br />
Johnson also apparently did some damage to the boom, foam brush and weep gun as he was leaving<br />
the bay, the story said.<br />
A man who apparently didn’t read Jason Bourne’s autobiography, was<br />
caught trying to pretend to be a car wash employee before stealing a customer’s car. But, he<br />
was wearing the wrong colored clothing, was seen loitering around the car wash before hand<br />
and he was also caught on video. The car this man risked his record for was a Honda Civic.<br />
The incident took place in Malaysia in November. According to The Rakyat Post, a 25-yearold<br />
man brought his aunt’s Honda Civic hatchback to the car wash, and handed over the car<br />
keys to a person he thought was an employee.<br />
According to the car wash’s cameras, the suspect, who was dressed in black and green attire,<br />
had been loitering outside the car wash. Note, however, that the car wash employees wear blue<br />
and black attire. After he got the keys to the car, he swiftly drove away. The car wash owner<br />
posted CCTV footage on Facebook, hoping for input from the public.<br />
Acting on the information received, an arrest was made on 23 November at 6:10 a.m.<br />
and the car was recovered. The suspect is a 26-year-old unemployed male with a history of 2<br />
drug-related offenses, the story said.<br />
Apparently the pandemic made this next guy way too comfortable with his<br />
mask. In Odessa, Texas, a man was caught on a car wash’s surveillance camera because he pulled<br />
down his mask before robbing an employee at the car wash. Yes, you read that right: It was before the<br />
robbery. As in, “now is not the time to expose one’s face.” He was one of three men. The two other<br />
men had masks on and have not been identified. But, you know who was? Ding, ding, ding! The guy<br />
not wearing a mask!<br />
It all took place last August when according to an August 24 Odessa American report, employees<br />
of the Mighty Wash called 911 around 8 p.m. to report that an employee had been robbed.<br />
“When officers arrived, a 20-year-old employee said one of the men pushed him and the other<br />
pointed a gun at him before he stole roughly $1,000 from a back room, the report stated. Three other<br />
employees corroborated the man’s story.<br />
Two of the three men were wearing masks, but one of the men didn’t have one on, for some reason.<br />
That man was identified and arrested.<br />
48 • WINTER 2024<br />
In something out of a spaghetti western,<br />
a huge brawl broke out at a car wash in<br />
Cadishead, England, on October 4, according to the<br />
Manchester Evening News.<br />
It seemed as if different fights broke out all over<br />
the place…Maybe it was rehearsals for a West Side<br />
Story reboot?<br />
According to the story, officers were called to the<br />
scene outside the Meera hand car wash around 11.15<br />
a.m. on a Wednesday (October 4). Police said a man was<br />
attacked by another man after ‘entering the forecourt of<br />
a business,’ but not much else is known. He was taken to<br />
hospital with serious and life-changing injuries.<br />
According to witnesses, it seemed as if the fight<br />
included two groups of men. The sharks and the<br />
Jets, perhaps?<br />
Cranberry sauce, green-bean<br />
casserole and turkey and a whole lotta<br />
vandalism.<br />
If there were a Thanksgiving version of The<br />
Grinch, then it would be this guy. In fact, I looked<br />
up mean pilgrims from back in the day and decided<br />
Colonist George Weymonth was one of the worst.<br />
So, we can make him the Thanksgiving Day bad guy<br />
from now on. In Nashua, New Hampshire, we have<br />
an unthankful man who vandalized a car wash on<br />
Thanksgiving day.<br />
According to the Newport Dispatch, the incident<br />
occurred at the Golden Nozzle Car Wash, where<br />
employees reported on November 24 that car wash<br />
equipment had been damaged while the business was<br />
closed for the holiday.<br />
Video surveillance footage showed a man deliberately<br />
damaging brushes, hoses, and sprayers in the car<br />
wash bays. Bah humbug! Or, whatever the Thanksgiving<br />
equivalent of the saying is… The amount of damages<br />
equals about $3,000. Thanks to the footage, police<br />
tracked down the culprit and were able to arrest him.<br />
WINTER 2024 • 49