Page 35 - April 2023

Whacky but Tr ue News! Who St ole
t he Race

April Fool's Day Came Early for These
Driver 's
Clowns and t heir Tesla
Wat ch?
Officers from Georgia's Gwinnett County North If you were 21 years
Precinct responded to a report that multiple game old would you wear
consoles had been stolen. Witnesses told the officers a £144,000 watch
that the thieves had made their hasty exit in a Tesla. to a crowded
The information was broadcast to other police patrols sporting event ?
in the area, one of which turned up the clowns trying You would if you
to charge their Model X not far from the store where were F1 McLaren
the robbery had taken place. Turns out you can run
but you can't hide is even more true if you're driving an racing driver Lando Norris.
electric vehicle in need of a charge as your getaway car. The watch was a RM-67-02 'Automatic Extra Flat

Police recovered the stolen game consoles and on Watch' designed exclusively for Norris by only high
searching the car also found several handguns and end watch designer Richard Mille. Mille is also a
two pounds of of what officers suspected to be sponsor of the McLaren Race Team. It should have
marijuana. been expected that someone would try to pinch it.

Taken into custody, arrested and charged with That happened in 2021. Norris was mugged at
multiple offenses, the thieves could receive lengthy Wembley while attending the final of the Euro 2020
stays at Georgia's version of Hotel California; you check football tournament that had been delayed. CCTV
in but getting out isn't so rapidly achieved. The footage was unable to positively identify the suspect.
anticipated length of their stay as guests of the state of But now , two years later, Liam Williams , 25, of
Georgia will give them orange jumpsuits as a fashion Merseyside finds himself in Harrow Crown Court as
choice and all the time they need before lights out to the man who allegedly stole Norris' watch, outed
recharge their batteries. thanks to science and technology.

A Tesla does have some utility as a getaway car. It's Tyrone Silcott, for the for the prosecution, said: ?He
styless styling, the limited number of color options, and [Norris] noticed two men walk around his car and one
I
the growing number of them on the road makes them approached, asking: ?s this your car??
pretty anonymous. When fully charged, they are quick ?[One of the men] went behind Mr Norris and grabbed
off the line and they are silent. him. He put his right arm around his neck and his left

Nothing can be done, however, when the clowns that arm behind his back and pulled Mr Norris backwards,
operate them forget that a discharged battery means causing him to look at the sky.
no go and slow charging ahead (unless at a rapid ?The one pulling him back called the accomplice to
charge station). It doesn't matter if the intent is to take grab the watch and the other man pulled the watch
the Tesla out to commit a crime or head through the from his wrist and as he did, scratched his left wrist.?
drive-through for lunch.
DNA evidence from the scratch was left on Norris'
No pedal to the metal for these guys. Foiled by a dead wrist and Williams?phone had been registered by his

battery-- this sounds like something that used to mobile service provider as travelling from Liverpool to
happen in old school cars, not in the sort of car hailed Wembley the day before the incident, returning to
as the future of transportation. Their Tesla could be Liverpool in the early hours of June 13. The case
called the Crime Stopper--emphasis on stop. . continues.

In 2022 Norris signed an 80 million pound extension
35
of his McLaren contract. With or without a watch his
time is very valuable.