Police: Truck crashes into gas station in smash-and-grab burglary

Owner: Average 5 break-ins per year for 7 years

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Posted: 02/20/2013
Last Updated: 118 days ago

Jack Rinehart | Email Me
TheIndyChannel.com Staff | Email Me

INDIANAPOLIS - A truck crashed into a gas station in an attempted smash-and-grab burglary on the city's near-north side early Wednesday, police said.

Just before 3:30 a.m., dispatchers sent police to the 3100 block of North College Avenue on reports of a burglar at the Marathon gas station.

Witnesses said the intruders crashed the truck into the store and used a tow strap to pull an ATM inside the store outside, but they were unsuccessful.

The burglars fled the scene and police towed the heavily-damaged truck from the store, dispatchers said.

The store owners estimated the burglars caused nearly $20,000 in damages.

In the seven years since Jaswant Banwait opened his store, he has averaged five after-hours break-ins per year.

Banwait has installed steel plating behind the drywall, and all the doors to his business have multiple locks and multiple alarms to ward off thieves, to no avail.

Banwait said being open 24 hours a day would deter this type of crime against his business, but the neighborhood association in the Mapleton-Fall Creek neighborhood does not allow 24-hour businesses because of noise and crime.

"We look at it as like when we are closed, we are giving chances to these people to come out and do it," Banwait said. "Smaller things like petty theft in the store, that's kind of normal in this neighborhood. It's no big thing. But this kind of incident, it's not going to happen if your open 24."

He said when his lease expires, he will close his store.

One of Banwait's regular customers, Pat McCormick, called the crimes atrocious.

"They took lottery tickets they said, broke into the place. It's just atrocious. They're trying to run a business," McCormick said.

Anyone with information about the smash-and-grab incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 317-272-TIPS.

Follow Jack Rinehart on Twitter: @jackrinehart6

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