By Kelly Malone

Man helps RCMP nab alleged car thief, finds him outside car drinking beer

Jan 20, 2015 | 5:02 PM

Richard Dielschneider drives Saskatchewan’s highways for work all the time but it’s not every day that he helps to catch an alleged car thief.

Happenstance would have it that Dielschneider, who is from Regina, would be driving just behind a stolen vehicle as it lost control between Waldheim and Hepburn on Highway 312 last Tuesday just after 5 p.m.

“A car comes up behind me, passing me and the truck behind me at a hell of a speed, at least double my speed. I looked in front and there was no room for him to get in. There was oncoming traffic,” Dielschneider explained.

“He lost control right in front of me.”

RCMP said about 20 minutes before, their officers received a complaint from a woman. She believed her ex-boyfriend was at her home in Waldheim. When officers arrived, the ex-boyfriend had already taken her 2005 red Jaguar and hit the road, leading him into Dielschneider’s path.

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“He lost control, went sideways down the middle of the road and rolled. I pulled over, got on my phone called 911,” Dielschneider said, adding he pulled over to make sure no one was hurt.

“Here’s the driver of the car, standing outside the car… drinking beer. I looked at him, was like, ‘Are you the driver?’ And he’s drinking beer and he wants a ride!”

After Dielschneider and another passerby who had pulled over refused to drive him, the suspect began to wave down other vehicles on the highway.

“We went over and dragged this guy out of the car and said, ‘You are not going anywhere,’” Dielschneider said.

Dielschneider and the other driver stopped the suspect from getting into two other vehicles. Even Dielschneider’s own van was almost taken, he said. 

“Finally the police came. We had walked down the road about half a mile following this guy,” Dielschneider said, adding RCMP officers thanked him for his help.

“He was getting away… He was looking to get out of there. Who knows where he could have gone. If he hadn’t had rolled the car, he would have ended up in Saskatoon.”
 
RCMP arrested 30-year-old Steven Frederick Loewen and charged him with impaired operation of a vehicle, dangerous operation of a vehicle, theft of a vehicle along with charges for the breach of no contact conditions in regards to his ex-girlfriend.

Loewen appeared in court and was remanded into custody until Feb. 11, 2015, in Rosthern Provincial Court.

For Dielschneider, it was a wild ride he won’t soon forget.
 
kmalone@rawlco.com

On Twitter: @KellyGerMalone