Someone lost a black 2000 RT/10 in PHX last night

[PhoenixGTS]

Very weird Viper story. Sleeping hard at 1:30 am and the doorbell rings. I think all kinds of things but ignore it. They double-ring again so I think maybe a neighbor is having an emergency. To be safe I yell through the door and get the response "Scottsdale Police." I open the door and two officers ask me if I am Mike Cook. I tell them they have the first name but not the last. They ask if I have a Viper and I say yes. They ask if it is this one out front and my heart sinks - I guess someone got into my garage, tried to steal my car but failed and it is sitting in the street. Then they shine their lights across the street and say "that one." Across the street is a black 2000 RT/10 with front-end damage. I told them no my car is silver. They don't believe me so I open the garage, they see my car and that is pretty much that.

Come to find out, the RT had been in a hit-and-run accident and the driver parked the car across the street from my house then ran. They were trying to find the driver.

This morning I went out to look at the car and it is a black 2000 RT/10 with Washington plates 268-LWA and a license plate frame that says "Everett - Dwayne Layne's." I took some pics and will post them as soon as I get them sized and hosted but the front end has significant damage: the hood is hurt, there is oil leaking out so it looks like the cooler was compromised. The passenger side wheels are freshly curbed. Given the prices of RT/10s now and that the hood is hurt it looks like a total.

With Gen IIs being so rare, it is amazing that one would die on my doorstep.

 

[V10SpeedLuvr]

I can resize and post the photos if you want me too. V10SpeedLuvr at aol com

 

[tbsviper]

Very strange indeed.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

The sad story in pictures:

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[PhoenixGTS]

The seats in that car are in better shape than mine. Think it would be poor form if I swapped them real quick?

 

[slysnake]

looks like it hit a ple. Wonder why the cops didn't tow it if it was stolen?

 

[Boxer12]

The seats in that car are in better shape than mine. Think it would be poor form if I swapped them real quick?

Nebody looking? hehe jk

 

[Boxer12]

What the heck did she hit? I don't see an oil trail...must have been something right there in the vicinity like a mailbox stand? Its totaled, for sure.

 

[viper GTS-R]

LOL Well now if anything breaks on your car you know the donor car is right across the street!

--RS

 

[PhoenixGTS]

What the heck did she hit? I don't see an oil trail...must have been something right there in the vicinity like a mailbox stand? Its totaled, for sure.

There are two clues to the accident:

1) even though I have a Scottsdale mailing address I actually live in Phoenix about a mile from the Phoenix/Scottsdale border. Since I am in the Phoenix PD jurisdiction but it was Scottsdale cops that showed up I am guessing the accident happened right across the border in Scottsdale;

2) there are pieces of broken automotive safety glass in the car, but all the windows are intact which leads me to think they hit another vehicle.

 

[InjectTheVenom]

With Gen IIs being so rare, it is amazing that one would die on my doorstep.

Maybe it sensed that with your silver Viper in the garage it would have a better home with you instead of it's present owner and decided to strand itself in front of your house
Better make room for it so it can move in

 

[AZTVR]

With Gen IIs being so rare, it is amazing that one would die on my doorstep.

What are the odds of that happening ? Go buy a lottery ticket, the stars may be aligned uniquely. The cops probably just rang your bell as they did all of the nearby houses and were surprised as heck when you answered that you owned a Viper. Or, a neighbor reported the abandoned Viper and mentioned that someone on the street owned one. Perhaps they thought that you had a Viper buddy visiting from out of state. Perhaps part of a Viper smuggling ring.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

The seats in that car are in better shape than mine. Think it would be poor form if I swapped them real quick?

That car had a rough night.. sometimes cops like to leave the car as found, send an officer out afterwards to dust it for prints.. just imagine if this car involved a death / ****** and you transplanted your seats back into the car, full of your prints, hair, etc.. and try explaining that to the cops.. Obviously, I assume you were joking.

 

[VENOMAHOLIC]

I feel bad for the owner that still may not know. The pics are very disturbing to me for some reason.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

I feel bad for the owner that still may not know. The pics are very disturbing to me for some reason.

I posted in case that was true and the owner or a friend of the owner would see the post and let them now. No rain in site today, but if for some reason we get some clouds I'll throw a tarp over the car so the interior does not get rained on.

But serously, the natural guess to make is that the owner was in town to get out of the Seattle rain and enjoy are ridiculously beautiful weather here in Phoenix, partied a bit, got into an accident, ran, then bailed on the car to avoid a DUI charge. I was groggy when the cops came and when I first saw it was a black RT I thought oh no, TOOFAST is in trouble and hiding in my back yard because that is the only black RT/10 that has ever been to my house, but then I remembered he sold that car and then I saw the Washington plates this morning instead of Illinois.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

Suggestions to determine if it's a members car, jot down the VIN and send it to a moderator, check if the VIN is in the VCA database, if that could be done or a Dodge dealer here may be able to determine the owner with the VIN if serviced while in the current owners name or run a Carfax.. Assuming the tag belongs to the car, the cops already know who owns it, but it was odd for them to knock on your door, obviously they didn't do any homework on the VIN or tag. I guess one of the neighbors called the cops, and pointed you out thinking it was your car, then again yours being a different color doesn't make sense, unless it was too dark.. very odd..

 

[PhoenixGTS]

What the heck did she hit? I don't see an oil trail...must have been something right there in the vicinity like a mailbox stand? Its totaled, for sure.

Did some more investigation. There is a significant oil trail. Followed it about a half mile and it comes from the Scottsdale direction. Looks like the cooler was leaking then when they made the turn into my neighborhood something popped and the leak got a lot worse. The car was hemorraging oil such that it seems that the engine finally starved and died right before my street causing the driver to bail into my street and give up. When you look at the car there is oil film on the body that has blown out the hood vents and gills. Looks like the engine is toast.

Isn't there someone who keeps a totalled Viper registry to protect us from rebuilt cars? The VIN is XXXXXXXXXX Washington. Sorry to see your car in that state Mike. Hope you are OK.

 

[musicncars]

Hmm...maybe you are like a jeckel and hyde? you had a few drinks last night...hyde comes out, takes a viper for a joy ride.......raises hell, gets home, black out...voila! back to jeckel. and no recollection of the previous nights events. j/k

 

[VENOMIS]

Nice to see that your neighbors would call the cops cause you potentially wrecked your car. Those are some good neighbors indeed.

 

[ViperTony]

Wow...what are the odds of a wrecked viper showing up in front of another Viper owner's house. I wouldn't touch it as other said you certainly don't want any DNA, hair, prints, etc. getting on the car and you being accidentally linked to it. Did the police come back yet to inspect it?

 

[Cop Magnet]

That's is one crazy a$$ story!
It wouldn't be the first time a cop from one jurisdiction towed a mess into a neighboring jurisdiction just to get out of a bunch of paperwork.
I'm just saying.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

Nice to see that your neighbors would call the cops cause you potentially wrecked your car. Those are some good neighbors indeed.

I believe it was a mild chase and the Scottsdale PD found the car by my house. For example probably the bitchiest neighbor saw me today and said the cops were at her house too and she said to them that I have a car like that and they said "yeah but his is silver this is a different car" so they went to her house after mine. Another neighbor said he was going to google the owner, call him and tell him to come and get the car and clean up the oil mess! Then I just saw another neighbor on my way back in from the gym and he shouted out "need any parts?"

So nobody on this board knows the owner? I'm a lawyer so if he wanted to contact me about the car I think it could be covered by attorney/client privilege.

[email protected]

Did the police come back yet to inspect it?

Nope. Still out there. Must not have been anyone hurt because the cops do not seem to care much more than knocking on doors and looking for the driver last night. Weather is nice so interior will not get rained on. Those seats look awfully nice.

 

[Jim Wilson]

That's a crazy story Michael!!! Please let us know the rest of the story if you find out what happened.

At this point, I don't think anyone will miss a couple of seats.....oh, and I could use a fog light.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

20 hours later and the car is still out there. No sign of any cops, no sign of any owner.You know Jim the facia is so bent I might just be able to reach in there for the fog light.

 

[kcobean]

Mike, I pulled the VIN and the owners name from your earlier post, but the VIN isn't in the database here on the site.

 

[01 RT SNAKE]

I cannot believe Scottsdale PD did not tow the car if it had been involved in some sort of crime/accident??? Cars that are left on the street are supposed to get towed to the impound lot. If they didn't tow it that night, it's going to sit there until someone calls it in. I'd want to know why they left it there. It's possible they got ahold of the registered owner and he told them to let it sit there until he can come get it, but I doubt it.

Mike
2001 RT/10

 

[01 RT SNAKE]

If you are in the Phoenix PD jurisdiction, call crime stop at 602-262-6151 and report that the vehilce is abandoned in front of your house and appears to have been involved in a hit and run. If Scottsdale left it there, they're not going to touch it. It should have been dealt with when they were there. They're leaving it up to Phoenix to clean up I'm guessing.

Mike

 

[PhoenixGTS]

Is there a trunk release inside the 2000 RT/10? I was thinking just in case we have rain and someday someone wants to try and save this car or its interior I would look in the trunk and see if the roof panels are in there and put them on. The windows are already up. And yes Jim, I checked and the fog lights are reachable.

 

[Cop Magnet]

Towing is huge revenue for somebody. Either Scottsdale or Phoenix. They'll charge a few hunnerd to flat bed it. Then $40 a day to store it. By the time the guy gets his legal problems out of the way, they'll own it. Looks like Arizona is going to have a new DARE car.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

Talk about irony - or somethng like that - drove my own car to the gym and when I returned and went to roll my window back up my recently repaired power window regulator re-broke again. And there is an abandoned Viper across the street. With a perfectly good $500 regulator in the door. Hmmm.

I sure as soon as I tore into it someone would show up and I would be busted. I think I'll just order the broken plastic piece from partsrack for $90. Hopefully the window is not scratched (it made an ugly scraping sound before I realized it was broken again). Anyone want to buy a GTS?