I know I have written about this before, but I have gotten requests to hear it again, so here it is in my words as best as I can rmemeber it.
To start lets get some background on the story then we'll go into it.
Players:
Rob - my boss at the time
Myself
Andre - co worker at the time
Rob's friend BOB - from boston
Location:
Las vegas Nevada.
Comdex Convention time November 1999
Backdrop of story:
Rob, BOB and andre drove up in rob's newly aquired 1995 S500 coupe to las vegas. Rob had just sold his 1991 500SL to get the S500 coupe.
I flew in two days later to join them.
I arrived at night, and met them at the hotel.
After meeting them at a blackjack table where rob was gambling quite heavily. Bob helps me get my bags to the room. He then asks me if I want to go for a cruise through vegas in the s500, to check out some motorcycle racers he had seen a couple of nights before. The racers were a spectacular sight according to him, so I said why the hell not, its early lets take out the benz.
We drive to the location the racers were usually at, and they were not there. we decide to go crusing around, so we find a nice stretch of road and we are cruising through pitch black streets with no-one to be found anywhere around us.
We decide to head back to the hotel to do some gambling after about an hour of driving around. On our way back, we see headlights approaching us int he opposite direction. finally we see a car after all this time. No biggie, as we are passing the vehicle, we see something hard hit the hood of the S500, then the windshield goes crack and cracks from a point right in front of me. IT looks like a rock or something has hit the windshield after deflecting off the hood.
We instantly turn around 180 degrees, and start to follow the car. a 1990 metallic blue ford probe. We get 911 on the phone and explain to them about the drive by vandalism we had just incurred.
Upon noticing us following them, (we had already given the police location, plate, make, and color of vehicle), the vandals start to accellerate off. We give the s500 a little gas, and they can't shake us. the speedo gets past 100 mph, and we are stuck to this probe like glue. The probe turns off onto a side street. We still have 911 on the phone and are reporting every turn, speeds, and all to the police who are asking us to back off.
We keep telling the police, this is an $80K Plus car, we aren't letting these guys out of our sight until you show up.
10 minutes has passed, and not a cop in sight still. We are chasing these guys up and down, back and forth, left and right, at speeds in excess of 110 mph on the vegas strip, off the strip, all the while, others start to join in and back off after they realize what is going on, but it is fun nonetheless to see others try to join in on the race, or rather chase... This probe cannot shake this autobahn burner, the s500 keeps breathing down their necks.
After another 5 minutes, we enter a suburban area, a quiet street just off the strip, and the probe makes a hard left, power slides on some water and continues, just as we start to make the left, an unmarked police car comes up behind us. we too powerslide the rear of the benz out on the bit of water in the road, and regain control and continue in our efforts. We notice the unmarked car behind us spin out doing a 360, he regains control. we pull over and so does the probe when he notices the police have the area secured and surrounded.
The police rush the probe, haul the people out.
The driver is 18, the passenger is 17. The passenger's parents are called and so are the drivers.
The Driver gets hauled off to jail, the 17 year old gets slapped until he is in his parents car.
The police chat with us and take down our report, and we are laughing about the chase, and we are making new friends. We find out what will happen, and are told the DA will contact us to bring us back to las vegas when its time for the 18 yr old to face the judge if he pleads not guilty.
We arrive back at hotel, broken windshield and all. and proceed to the blackjack table we left rob at. Rob is down about $1500.00 and we tell him the news. he is not in doubt that it was the truth, especially coming from bob, who always has this kind of crap happen to him. And figures well I'm out some money, a hood and windshield, what else can go wrong tonight...
Nothing, because everything that can go wrong already has, it's time for the tables to turn and lady luck to step in...
I sit down at the tables, and within 30 minutes, I'm up $700, rob borrows $200 from me and is up to $2500.00 in winnings over his expenses so far, and andre is up $2000.00. Bob doesn't gamble, but he was in shock at the luck.
Now I had ben in vegas all of 2 hours, and already had been in a high speed car chase, damaged my bosses car, and won $700.00 profit over what I came with.
Probably one of the most intesnse nights I have ever had.
After a month, I get a call from the DA, he has a plane ticket, hotel room, and spending money for me for when I am to testify.
The day before I am to leave, I get another call from the DA, the boy has pled guilty, and we no longer need you to testify.
Too bad, I would have enjoyed the experience, but mostly the free trip to vegas on the state.
So all in all, it was an eventful experience, and one I will never forget.
Alon