A Whitby teenager chased car thieves away with a hockey stick
A scuffle ensued, but the 17-year-old managed to scare off the three masked individuals in his driveway
On a December night around 2 a.m., a teenager in Whitby awoke to the chaos of car thieves attempting to steal his family’s vehicle from their driveway. Three masked individuals had smashed a window of their Toyota Tundra, considered by police to be one of the most-targeted vehicles for theft.
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Dayne Deruchie looked out his bedroom window, ran downstairs barefoot and grabbed a hockey stick. Security footage provided to the Toronto Star shows the 17-year-old sending the thieves scurrying back to their getaway car as Deruchie chases them from the driveway. It’s quite a scene.
The teen’s father, Denny Deruchie, told the Star that he’s proud of his son but that he doesn’t encourage people to run outside and fend off car thieves. “Dayne was very fortunate that the outcome was what it was. I could have been calling 911 for an ambulance,” said Denny. “Every situation is going to be different, but I don’t advise people to run out with a hockey stick.”
This wasn’t the first time thieves had targeted the Deruchie family. About six months ago, Denny’s wallet was stolen from his Ford F-15o.
As for Dayne, who plays for the Whitby Wildcats minor-league hockey team, he has midterms to study for. Car thieves of the GTA, can you at least give it a rest until exam season is over?
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
