Sheldon Taylor is battered and bruised on Thursday, and for good reason.
“I’m a slow-moving man today,” the Wetaskiwin, Alta. man said after an ordeal that could have easily ended his life.
On Thursday morning, he was hit and flipped over the hood of his own pickup truck, as it was being stolen from his own driveway.
It happened just before 7 a.m., as Taylor was getting ready to head to work out west of the central Alberta city.
It was a chilly morning and garbage day, so after starting his 2001 GMC Sierra, he left the older vehicle to warm up while he ran back inside to quickly grab the trash.
“I literally grabbed a bag of garbage, I was standing on my front step. Was about to put it in the bin — for collection — and that’s when I heard my truck door close and I realized someone was in it.”
The next few moments happened fast. Taylor said the thief slammed into reverse and gunned the truck backwards down the driveway while he chased after.
“I was yelling at him, saying, ‘What the heck are you doing? Where are you going? Like, get out of my truck.’”
Once they both got to the street, Taylor said the thief took aim at him.
“He swerved in and clipped me with the driver front corner, sending me over the hood for a nice little ride.”
Surveillance video from a neighbour showed the entire incident. The thief arrived on a bike, but ditched it on Taylor’s lawn upon finding the running truck. He got in, reversed, and hit the owner, sending Taylor up onto the hood and off over the driver’s side.
“You could see the marks on the street right there where he swerved in and clipped me,” Taylor said.
“And then he stopped — he stopped at the stop sign. Great law-abiding citizen stops at the stop sign, you know, for a few seconds and decided to bolt off.”
The father of seven was left laying on the pavement while his wife was out of the house, dropping their kids off at the school bus.
“I’m just thankful it was me encountering this situation versus sometimes I drive my children to the bus and they would have been in the vehicle in that exact moment on some of the days.
“I’m just thankful they went with her and not in there today.”
Taylor said he came down on his hand and got some road rash from the hard landing.
The side of his body also was banged up from the impact. He slowly crawled back to the house to call for help.
“My dog thought I wanted to play because I was crawling through the living just to get ahold of my phone and call 911 and my wife too.”
RCMP responded quickly, Taylor said, collecting information and taking away the discarded bike. Then, Taylor’s wife took him to the hospital, where staff said he was lucky to walk – or crawl – away with just soft tissue and ligament injuries.
“I got some rashes, minor rashes in my hand, wrist is sore from catching me,” he said, adding the x-ray didn’t reveal any broken bones.
“Bruised pretty good and inside my hip — it’s a mess, bruised probably really bad internally.”
The Taylor family moved to Wetaskiwin three years ago for job opportunities and said crime is a problem in the community, and they’ve tried to be mindful about not creating opportunities for thieves and having surveillance cameras on their property.
“When we first moved here, we locked everything up at night — one night we slipped up and bikes went missing. We managed to get all the bikes back because we’re good head hunters,” he said, adding they scoured pawn shops and more to get their bicycles back. “They were not in good condition when they returned, of course.
“They tried to scratch VINs and stuff off, so I imagine my truck’s going to be in pretty rough shape when I get a hold of it again — if I do.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, Taylor’s truck is still missing. He expects he will be driving the family minivan to work until his GMC is either found, or he is forced to get a new vehicle.
Sheldon Taylor’s stolen 2001 GMC Sierra.
Supplied
Even with all the measures the family has taken to secure their property, this theft has left Taylor disturbed, in addition to in pain.
“I have six daughters and a newborn son and a wife that need to be safe at all times, right? That’s where the dog kind of came into play because he’s pretty good alarm system, right? More, I don’t know what to tell ya,” he said, adding he feels Wetaskiwin needs a more visible police presence.
“This riff-raff is everywhere. It’s a headache. Nothing’s safe. Can’t even keep my kid’s bike out.”
RCMP told Global News officers responded just after 7 a.m. to a home near 55 street and 41 Avenue in Wetaskiwin, and police confirmed Taylor’s version of events.
Police and Taylor said the thief is described as a six-foot-tall man with a medium complexion and no facial hair, who was wearing a black hat, a beige shirt with long sleeves and black pants.
“That’s about all I got in the whole panic of this scenario,” Taylor said.
The stolen orange 2001 GMC Sierra has an Alberta licence plate BZF6276.
If anyone has any information about the stolen truck and its whereabouts, or the suspect, is asked to call the Wetaskiwin RCMP at 780-312-7267.
If you want to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit information online.