ANAHEIM, California – A man suspected of trying to steal a catalytic converter from a vehicle in California died when the car fell on him, police said.
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According to the sergeant. Shane Carringer, of the Anaheim Police Department, found a man’s body under a Toyota Prius in a car park around 6:20 am on Wednesday, KABC reported.
The man, whose name has not been released, was found dead under the car, the television station said. 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 by the vehicle’s weight, KABC reported.
Sean Harp, who works at the compound where the incident occurred, was in his office when a “very frantic” person alerted him that he had found a dead man under the car, KTLA reported.
Harp investigated and said he saw “the man’s torso under the vehicle with his feet and … legs exposed,” reported the television station. “It was evident that he was devastated.”
Authorities say catalyst thefts have increased as thieves look for metals in the car parts they can sell.
“They are full of precious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium,” said David Kilbourne, who runs the Foreign Carriage Service in Thousand Oaks, to KABC. “I believe that they melt and separate the metals and sell them because they are worth more than gold.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department recently arrested about 20 people in connection with theft of catalytic converters and recovered 250 of them valued at $ 750,000, KTVU reported.
The value of metals within catalytic converters has increased, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Recyclers will pay up to $ 250 per catalytic converter, the agency told KNBC.
Thefts increased from 1,298 in 2018 to 14,433 in 2020, according to a NICB report.
“As the value of precious metals contained in catalytic converters continues to increase, so does the number of thefts from these devices,” said the NICB in a statement. “There is a clear connection between times of crisis, limited resources and disruption in the supply chain that directs investors to these precious metals.”
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department official told KTLA last week that the first generation of the Prius is among the most targeted cars because its catalytic converter is known to contain more precious metal.