It sounded a lot like a rhetorical question, “Anybody else had their car stolen in front of 30 people?” Only, it was anything but rhetorical for renowned St. Joseph restaurateur Ken Kozminski, who added a secondary question, “How about a high speed chase down I-94?”
Both were seriously real questions from Kozminski, who owns The Buck Burgers & Brew in downtown St. Joseph last night after a thief boldly walked up to his private vehicle parked barely five feet from the back door to his popular business and proceeded to steal it in front of a full audience dining on his outdoor deck system.
According to reports from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department, Kozminski’s Lexus was spotted shortly after the brazen theft by Benton Township Police who launched the pursuit on I-94, and that hot pursuit led to speeds topping 120 miles per hour.
The driver kept right on going blowing through the Berrien/Van Buren County line where Van Buren County Sheriff’s Deputies joined the chase.
Authorities say that the attempt to use spiked “stop-sticks” to slow the thief down or stop him failed.
It wasn’t until the chase reached mile-marker 63 on the periphery of Mattawan in Van Buren County that the thief ultimately surrendered to police and was taken into custody. Michigan State Police and Berrien County Sheriff’s Deputies also played a role, assisting arresting officers in the case.
Kozminiski’s not-so-rhetorical post on Facebook also shared that while it had been “an interesting day,” he was also “glad not one was hurt” in the high speed chase.
Kozminiski says that his employees tried to wrestle the thief out of the car, but he “flew down the alley” to make his escape. Fortunately, police responded quickly, and Kozminski says he’s due to get his vehicle back later this morning.
*****UPDATE*****UPDATE*****UPDATE*****
Ken Kozminski says the whole incident happened in a flash. He had stopped at the back door of his restaurant to pick up his phone, and several employees stood right there by the car while he ran in. The keys were still in the ignition, and ten seconds later the thief jumped in. Ken says, “Two of my employees tried to disable him and got the key out, but were dragged down the alley to Cabana’s Ice Cream Shop.” He adds, “Matt from RyeBelle’s chased him through the alleys at high speed and eventually into Benton Harbor where police caught up with him on M-139. He was blowing through stop lights and intersections and police were in hot pursuit.”
While authorities said stop sticks failed to bring him down, Ken says, “For the record, I listened to it on police dispatch, and police took him down with tire spikes or he would not have stopped. Had a full tank of gas.”
Here’s what his tires looked like when it was over:
