Attempted Car Jacking exiting Puerto Plata Airport

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Yesterday, between 4:30 and 5:00 PM, we went to pick up a friend arriving at the airport in Puerto Plata. There were four of us in the car, two in the front and two in the back.

As we were about to leave the airport road and turn left onto the main
highway to head east, there was one vehicle in front of us stopped. The driver was talking to a guy on a motorbike. I waited a few seconds and beeped the horn. The car moved on, but the motorbike driver who had been talking to the driver of the vehicle turned in front of me and blocked my way deliberately.

Within a few seconds there were about 7 people on each side of the car on
various scooters/passolas and motos. One guy was pounding on my drivers door and was yelling at me to stop in Spanish.. I made believe I was going to roll down the window, while I went for my 9mm. I had no intention of actually rolling it down for obvious reasons.

Then for some reason the guy in front on the moto got out of my way and I hightailed it out of there. I don't think they saw me go for the gun, because the windows are smoked on the sides and back and even the moto in front of me didn't have an angle to see what I was doing quite yet. If he had not gotten out of the way, my only alternative would have been to run him over.

It could have gotten very ugly in just another second or two. I can only
assume this was an attempted carjacking.

I have no idea why the delinquent in front of me moved out of the way. Perhaps it was because another car came up from behind me and they didn't want additional witnesses. Nobody else in our group could explain why we "got away" in the nick of time.

Be careful out there.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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Santiago
Perhaps it was because another car came up from behind me and they didn't want additional witnesses.

Glad things turned out ok.

No doubt it was because the other car showed up. Most Dominicans hate theives and these guys knew they might either be recognized or shot on the spot so they chose the smart thing to do.
 

drloca

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Oct 26, 2004
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Pleased you had a positive outcome to what could have turned nasty.

I have no doubt your remainig "calm" and being appropriate to the situation as well as thinking on your feet, contributed to this success.

Be safe!
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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To clarify this point: Nobody actually saw another car come up behind us, it is just a guess that this might have happened and scared them off.
 

J D Sauser

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Nov 20, 2004
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Whoaw! Good for you, you made it out of there without any losses.
What an immediate immersion for your guests too!

Now, can't we all wait to see those inevetable posts with theories about how this could have been something completely inoffensive and you overreacted :tired: by our Forum own beautification committee?
Hey, maybe it was the Tourist Ministry's latest welcoming efforts just not yet fine tuned? :bunny:

I don't know if suggesting to report this to the obvious authorities would be nothing else but a waste of time or even attracting problems on you at the end. But maybe it could be worth while informing the airport authorities?
One can't imagine the damage to the tourist industry this could do, once they'd be successful once or twice, and that right at the airport exit!
These idiots have to be trapped and dealt with immediately.


... J-D.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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All of us who were in the car actually live here.

Informing the police, as well all know, is a complete waste of time. I will, however,be in touch with airport authorities.

Spinning this in a positive way could only be done by a fool. It was clear what was going on.
 

ElvisNYC

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Jan 27, 2006
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I don't think it could have been a car jacking, cause if they wanted to they would have car jacked your vehicle at that point.

I believe those guys were there for support to the other guy cause most likely he got upset that you interrupted his conversation with his buddy in the middle of a highway. Some dominicans think it's fine for them to block traffic to talk to their friends and get upset if you bother them. Perhaps they wanted to scare you off, and probably saw that you reached in to get a gun..

Doing a car jacking on a major highway, in front of the airport, and with 4 people inside is plain stupid.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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I do not agree

I don't think it could have been a car jacking, cause if they wanted to they would have car jacked your vehicle at that point.

I believe those guys were there for support to the other guy cause most likely he got upset that you interrupted his conversation with his buddy in the middle of a highway. Some dominicans think it's fine for them to block traffic to talk to their friends and get upset if you bother them. Perhaps they wanted to scare you off, and probably saw that you reached in to get a gun..

Doing a car jacking on a major highway, in front of the airport, and with 4 people inside is plain stupid.

I cannot recall the number of times that I have blown my horn to get inconsiderate people talking to friends to move. That was not the case here.
I waited a while, beeped my horn only a little.

There was only one person on a moto talking to the driver of the car. The other 6 of them showed up very quickly when the car in front of me drove on and they showed up magically from out of nowhere.
 

J D Sauser

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I tend to agree with this opinion, maybe he was just ****ed that you beeped him and showing a little stand off to make a point. It would be strange that the guy in the car infront would give his number plate out and be seen with the jackers just before they were going to do a crime.
Could these guys not have just been thinking you were offering a lift to them and turned away when they realised you weren't?
Anyway, glad it all was nothing in the end.

I don't think it could have been a car jacking, cause if they wanted to they would have car jacked your vehicle at that point.

I believe those guys were there for support to the other guy cause most likely he got upset that you interrupted his conversation with his buddy in the middle of a highway. Some dominicans think it's fine for them to block traffic to talk to their friends and get upset if you bother them. Perhaps they wanted to scare you off, and probably saw that you reached in to get a gun..

Doing a car jacking on a major highway, in front of the airport, and with 4 people inside is plain stupid.

The recently new local (North Coast) German paper just had a picture of a Tiguere, in shorts, waring a gun with the text (I translate):

Young, dangerous and STUPID = Tiguere

Don't ever expect them to really be intelligent, professional or only half as smart as they like to think of themselves as being.
They don't think, they have a very blurred sense of logic and their proficiency even in crime luckily is quite limited, especially when they haven't made their "bones" yet. After that, it's machete, shots, bing bang boom until they meet their equal in uniform.

I think it is utterly inappropriate to question an expats interpretation of a lived experience like this... very similar to questioning the recounts of a rape victim.


Yes, our locals tend to think "ay mira que chevere, pa mi hay sitio" when they mistake an intersection or entrance/exit for a parking or ideal spot for a jolly chat. But once honked at as a reminder (honking is not understood as yelling, it's more like telling each other "and now here I come, watch out I might not have brakes either"). Never have I witnessed that practice to trigger a gattering of people pounding on doors or windows unless the "honking" was not thru the use of the horn but by yelling all sorts of comments about the other guy's mother's professional activities.

... J-D.
 

drloca

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Oct 26, 2004
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Could these guys not have just been thinking you were offering a lift to them and turned away when they realised you weren't?


These guys were on motos/pasolas....why would they need a ride from a stranger in a vehicle exiting the airport?
 

ElvisNYC

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Jan 27, 2006
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Ok, I'm glad the situation didn't get escalated to the point you need to run someone over or shot someone.

Car jackings are becoming popular in DR !

This happens regularly in my country, Ecuador, that it's out of control. They do car jackings on a daily basis and drive you around to make ATM withdrawals and if it's women, sexual assault. Sometimes it's in taxis as well ! I'm glad this hasn't been exposed in DR, yet !

A lot of the scams/ways to steal that are popular in other countries are slowly coming to DR - like car jackings on the highways/streets and in the malls, checking out people making high amount of withdrawals the bank or ATM and following you.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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I think it is utterly inappropriate to question an expats interpretation of a lived experience like this... very similar to questioning the recounts of a rape victim.

You think?

Since a car jacking didn't actually happen, how do we know for sure it was going to? Thats a little different to when a rape actually occurred.
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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I think it is utterly inappropriate to question an expats interpretation of a lived experience like this

Depends on the expat :cheeky: but I've known windeguy for a number of years and he is no drama-queen. If he experienced it as a potential car-jacking then that is what it probably was.

You know a lot about the type of occurrence from your own reactions - I was recently surrounded by pedestrians banging on my vehicle. I had started to cross the main road ahead of a protest march. In that case, I knew who the people were & why they were there. They just wanted me out of the way quickly, so being who they were :cheeky: they surrounded my vehicle thus holding me & them up even longer..........

In Windeguy's case, the people came 'from nowhere' - the only reason for conchos at that location is to pick up rides & clearly, Windeguy didn't need one!

ElvisNYC, those type of carjackings (ATM) do happen here - main protagonists are police or people in police uniforms. It was in fashion about 9 months ago - seem to have been fewer reported recently but that doesn't mean they aren't happening.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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To all newbies who don't live here in the DR, if a whole bunch of people surround your car for no apparent reason and start yelling or hitting your car, assume it is a carjacking and plan accordingly.

People here in the DR won't confront you for beeping your horn at them for a short period of time or any length for that matter, this is pure myth. Not only that a moto driver will never, ever try to block a car with his bike unless he is up to something or the bike is broken, in the latter case he will move it out of the way.
 

ElvisNYC

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And neither by me to offend the OP. Stating that I would question something that happened because the OP did say this -

I have no idea why the delinquent in front of me moved out of the way. Perhaps it was because another car came up from behind me and they didn't want additional witnesses. Nobody else in our group could explain why we "got away" in the nick of time.

I guess he wants to know what happened, we have no idea but I just threw something that could've been possibly a reason.

Again, doing a car jacking on a highway in broad light, outside of the airport and with 4 people inside the car is plain stupid and foolish. The whole thing to manage would be difficult to do especially with thieves in passolas and bikes. Trying to car hijack 4 people on the middle of a busy highway is quite difficult to accomplish.

Yes, tigueres do stupid things, and sometimes they respect when people honk and move away, but who knows what really happened at the point he needed to escalate this and his buddies came along side the OP's car to provoke him to exit the car.

I'm glad it didn't escalate to using a gun !
 
Mar 2, 2008
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Windeguy has been a member of DR1 since 2004, with over 1600 posts. By now, people who follow this forum have a very good idea of his veracity.

It is obvious, to me at least, that Windeguy's observations should be taken seriously, and if anyone cares to contradict what he has posted, they should do only with factual evidence.

However one chooses to describe the event that Windeguy reported on, one thing is abundantly clear, the guys encircling the car were up to no good.
 

ElvisNYC

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ElvisNYC, those type of carjackings (ATM) do happen here - main protagonists are police or people in police uniforms. It was in fashion about 9 months ago - seem to have been fewer reported recently but that doesn't mean they aren't happening.

I know it happens in DR..

I was saying about the last one - taxis being used a methods to rob you. It hasn't caught on yet in DR ! Picking up passengers and then making a stop only for other people getting into the cab with the motive to drive you around to make atm withdrawals. Since cars belong to a radio taxi that makes it more manageable.

Over there cabs can pick up passengers anywhere, so people started to use those radio taxis to avoid this problem.
 

Adrian Bye

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Jul 7, 2002
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Windeguy definitely comes across as switched on in his posts. I don't doubt he had a scary experience.

But how do you know he didn't hit someone a few blocks back? Or something fell off his car? Or some other reason which isn't explained?

14 people trying to carry out a carjacking in a small town in broad daylight outside the POP airport in a country where the economy depends on tourism is pretty damn stupid and even the dumbest tigres know that. Everyone knows how (un)successful kidnapping is over here.

Certainly it would make sense to get the police involved and have them patrol the area for a while. I am sure they would take a smart guy like windeguy seriously.
 

Chip

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Jul 25, 2007
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That is slightly patronising, just because people don't live there at the moment doesn't mean anyone doesn't have long term and in depth experience of the country and how it works. And in fact experience of life in general. The DR isn't another planet, yes it can be a very backwards and dangerous place, but general common sense stands strong whatever country you are in. If people are new to the site doesn't mean they are new to anything else.

I think it is reckless and dangerous to promote that this was anything other than a carjacking plain and simple. My warning wasn't meant to be offensive, rather to warn people. Knowledge in these types of situations is power, as it enables people to act, as opposed to doing nothing and possibly being a victim.
 

Chip

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Windeguy definitely comes across as switched on in his posts. I don't doubt he had a scary experience.

But how do you know he didn't hit someone a few blocks back? Or something fell off his car? Or some other reason which isn't explained?

14 people trying to carry out a carjacking in a small town in broad daylight outside the POP airport in a country where the economy depends on tourism is pretty damn stupid and even the dumbest tigres know that. Everyone knows how (un)successful kidnapping is over here.

Certainly it would make sense to get the police involved and have them patrol the area for a while. I am sure they would take a smart guy like windeguy seriously.

No offense Adrian, but nobody would try to block a vehicle with a motorcycle here and then have someone else start beating on the window and yelling if they weren't up to something malicious.