'Stranded' driver scores trunk full of free fuel

[SameZombie]

FORT WORTH — How many gallons of free gas does it take to fill up an old Cadillac?
A Fort Worth man might have found out if an observant patrol officer hadn’t wondered why the same driver kept getting stranded in the same neighborhood, police say.
Here’s what happened:
On Monday, the officer spotted a middle-aged man standing next to "a big old Cadillac" with its hood propped open at South Hills Avenue and Stadium Drive, said officer Charles Gonzalez, the area’s neighborhood police officer.
This piqued the officer’s curiosity, because it was the third time the officer had noticed the man stopped in the area, he said. So the officer stopped and asked the man what the problem was.
The man said his car’s starter was shot. The officer told him to try to start it.
"And it starts right up," Gonzalez said.
Meanwhile, another driver pulled up with a full 1-gallon gas can, he said. The driver told the officer that the Cadillac owner had claimed to have run out of gas and was broke. So the driver decided to be a good Samaritan and bought gas for the man.
Now even more suspicious, the officer ran the Cadillac owner’s driver’s license and learned that he had outstanding Class C warrants, Gonzalez said. He was arrested.
When officers opened the Cadillac’s trunk, they found four full 1-gallon gas cans in a row.
"He’d been convincing people he was out of gas and to give him money or buy him some," Gonzalez said. "The officer said he noticed the guy always parked near a gas station, so it would be convenient for people to run and get some for him.
"People were not only buying him gas, they were buying him the gas cans."
It probably wasn’t a crime, Gonzalez said. The gas gauge didn’t work so police don’t know how much gas the car contained. And anyway, asking people to buy you gas isn’t against the law.
But it is a reminder to well-intentioned people to follow their instincts when they help someone, he said.
"You never want to tell people not to help others," he said. "But there are people who will take advantage of it."

ALEX BRANCH, 817-390-7689

[Dipity]

Since it probably costs about $200 to fill up a Cadillac, I have no problem with this