Man fires gun at car thief, now needs thief’s consent for accelerated rehabilitation

What would you do if you saw a thief driving away with your car? After a Connecticut man retaliated with his gun, the ball is now in the thief’s court.

CT Post reports that Bridgeport native Myles Prendergast, 23, took out his gun and fired 10 shots at his own vehicle as the thief was making their great escape. But, police say Prendergast should not have done that and have charged him with first-degree reckless endangerment. He also was slapped with illegal discharge of a firearm.

To potentially have those charges against him dismissed, Prendergast asked for accelerated rehabilitation — but there’s a catch. The person who stole his car has to sign off on the program first.

State law mandates that the victim of a crime must consent to have their wrongdoer — in this case Prendergast — be admitted into the program. One problem, the car thief has not been identified and Prendergast argued that he shouldn’t have to alert the thief anyway because they stole his car.

Assistant State’s Attorney Justina Moore wasn’t moved by the counter argument, and let the mandate stand, so Prendergast might face those charges after all, since the thief is still in the wind.

His next hearing has been set for May 19.