In what is reminiscent of a scene from a James Bond movie, a car owner dished out some vigilante justice by boobie trapping his own Chevrolet Silverado
The New Orleans man stepped it up to the next level and actually did what we all probably have pondered at some point, but never followed through.
The Metairie man fed up with having the windows of his pickup frequently shattered by burglars equipped the centre console of his truck with a flashbang, no doubt scaring the living hell out of the man who broke the driver’s side window, promptly recoiling and flying backwards when it exploded after leaning into the car.
The would-be burglar then fled in the car he had arrived in.
Brendan Batt, the owner of the truck that set up the device said this was the eighth time in the last six weeks his vehicle had been targeted.
“To see him like gleefully walk up and just smash my eighth window in the past couple of months and jump in and then you know to see the detonation go off and his reaction,” he said.
“I don’t want this guy to die for what he did, but I don’t want him to just be able to smash and grab and run away… He probably didn’t get hurt that bad, but it wasn’t pleasant and it might deter him and his friends and tell other people not to do this too because without something like this there’s no consequence, because they’re not going to get arrested.”
Batt decided he had enough and took matters into his own hands by rigging the flashbang in the cup holder, tripped by a wire connected to the centre console.
“This is rigged with a pen and a tripwire so as someone comes and opens the box this pen is going to get pulled, and then, boom! No one is going to get killed or permanently injured from this, but it’s not pleasant and you do not want it to go off anywhere near you,” said Brendan Batt.
Batt built a 12-gauge mini flashbang. He made it with gunpowder and hide the device in his centre console. Batt says it is not to injure anyone but to send a message. Batt says car break-ins are a major problem across the city and something needs to be done to stop them.
A flash-bang – also known as a stun grenade or sound bomb – is an explosive device that produces a blinding flash and a loud noise to distract, stun, and incapacitate. They are often used by the military and law enforcement, but there are also civilian versions available in some parts of the world.
Although considered less dangerous than some explosives, they can still cause serious injuries.
Surveillance footage captured the moment that the flashbang went off while the perpetrator broke into his truck in New Orleans.
The video shows a man breaking the glass of his truck and crawling inside. Shortly after the person entered the truck a flash can be seen.
The person who broke into the truck jumps out and runs away.
The man who rigged the flash-bang said he understands this wasn’t the best way to go about deterring car burglaries but was frustrated with how often his truck was broken into it.
New Orleans Police Department released the following statement about the incident:
“While we understand the frustrations our citizens have with crime, rigging an explosive device to detonate inside a vehicle is illegal and a bad idea,” it said.
“Not only is there a risk of injury to yourself and others, but there could also be serious legal ramifications for everyone involved.“
