AMG
03-03-2006, 10:54 PM
A Cadillac Escalade owner from St Augustine, Florida, was effectively arrested by his own car after showing off the SUV's OnStar communications system to his girlfriend.
The OnStar system, a subscription service offered in most GM models in the US, gives drivers direct phone contact with an operator for emergency assistance, traffic advice, navigation and suchlike. The Escalade owner accidentally connected to an operator but had the system's volume set so low, he couldn't hear the operator talking to him and thus did not respond. The OnStar control centre automatically assumed the car was in an emergency situation, located it using the satellite tracking device fitted as part of the OnStar set-up and sent out a police patrol to investigate.
When the police turned up, they found cocaine visible on the vehicle's central console and arrested the driver on drugs charges, also seizing $1,900 and the Escalade itself as evidence for a trial for drug-dealing.
The OnStar system, a subscription service offered in most GM models in the US, gives drivers direct phone contact with an operator for emergency assistance, traffic advice, navigation and suchlike. The Escalade owner accidentally connected to an operator but had the system's volume set so low, he couldn't hear the operator talking to him and thus did not respond. The OnStar control centre automatically assumed the car was in an emergency situation, located it using the satellite tracking device fitted as part of the OnStar set-up and sent out a police patrol to investigate.
When the police turned up, they found cocaine visible on the vehicle's central console and arrested the driver on drugs charges, also seizing $1,900 and the Escalade itself as evidence for a trial for drug-dealing.