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'Kia Boyz' challenge becomes public safety issue changing lives
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Leroy N. Soetoro
Nov 25, 2023, 1:31:07 PM11/25/23
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https://www.king5.com/article/news/crime/tiktok-challenge-kia-boyz-
property-crime-public-safety-changing-lives/281-20b5151f-6cc1-4a01-87a1-
19a3c2ebd513
SEATTLE — The craze to steal Kias and Hyundais is not just a property
crime but a threat to public safety as well, according to Seattle City
Attorney Ann Davison.
Davison is leading the national charge to hold the automakers accountable.
According to a lawsuit, the explosion of stealing Kias and Hyundais
started as a TikTok challenge with young people showing off and joyriding,
but KING 5 found that there is nothing carefree about these crimes. For
some victims, it changed their lives forever.
Inside Valentina Andriyuk's Des Moines home, she shared memories of her
younger brother. Bohdan Vetrov was a father to seven children. He moved
his family from Ukraine six years ago to join relatives in Washington
state.
"Father’s Day, they stayed in my house. His family is here. It is 11 days
before he died,” said Andriyuk.
Eleven days later, there was an alleged crime spree that started with a
stolen Kia.
Lakewood police say on June 29, two 16-year-olds stole a Kia and used the
car in an armed robbery, raced away from police, and crashed into a semi-
truck.
"And unfortunately, when they struck that truck, it ejected the driver of
the semi-truck who landed on I-5 and was deceased,” said Lakewood police
Sgt. Charles Porche.
That driver was Andriyuk’s brother, Bohdan Vetrov. She will never forget
that phone call.
"They said that Bohdan died. You know, he was healthy. No one expected
that. We were in shock. We didn't know what to do,” said Andriyuk.
What happened to Bohdan is part of a shared national tragedy because of a
car theft trend that took off.
KING 5 obtained legal documents and photos showing crash after crash
across the country, from Milwaukee to Madison, Cleveland to Colombus,
Buffalo to Baltimore. All the cities say stolen Kias or Hyundais were
involved. Police said in some of the cases people got hurt or killed
after the theft.
"It is a stolen car and there is the argument of well, that is just the
property crime part of it. But you have to look at the totality of
everything that happened there, right,” said Sgt. Porsche.
"There's no way this is a victimless crime. Some of the incidents I know
were actual assaults on elderly people to take their Kia or Hyundai at
that moment,” said Davison.
In Seattle, from 2021 to 2022 thefts of Hyundais increased by 363% and
Kia’s by 503%.
"Our last numbers and data show that as of August of 2023, three-fourths
of the vehicles that were stolen are of these manufacturers,” said
Davison.
“We have been partnering with law enforcement all over the country
including there in Seattle region on this unfortunate crime situation that
has been really fed by social media,” said James Bell, head of
communications of Kia America.
The Kia Boyz challenge on social media is making it easy for thieves to
pull off the crimes. The videos feature tutorials on exactly how to steal
the cars.
"It is not a good way that they choose,” said Andriyuk. "It is very
dangerous and not good."
"The manufacturer chose from 2011 to 2021, for a 10-year timespan, to
exclude nearly universal anti-theft technology in those vehicles as they
sold them,” said Davison.
Seattle's city attorney took the lead in trying to hold the automakers
accountable.
"I was the first to file suit for the city of Seattle,” said Davison.
That was in January, since then 16 more government agencies across the
country have joined in, suing the automaker in federal court.
"I think the right thing to do is to recall these vehicles and install the
anti-theft technology,” said Davison.
When asked why Kia didn’t install the technology in the first place, Bell
said, "I can't speak to that. I am not in the product planning department.
I don't know what the decisions were and how they were rendered, but what
I can tell you is all Kia vehicles including any of the vehicles that were
part of this issue meet and exceed all federal standards and mandates."
"By looking at the data, it was clear to me that this was becoming a
burden on our police officers and on taxpayers,” said Davison.
The graphs chart the rise in Kia and Hyundai thefts, but what the charts
don't show is the toll that's taking on human lives.
"Nobody expected that,” said Andriyuk about her brother’s death. “But we
have to live with it. What can we do?"
The Seattle city attorney said the people committing the crimes need to be
held accountable, but so do the automakers who should have installed anti-
theft technology.
A federal judge recently dismissed a motion to throw out the lawsuit.
“While we disagree with the court’s ruling, we remain confident that the
evidence in this case will demonstrate that the plaintiffs’ legal claims
do not have merit. As we have said from the outset, the Kia vehicle models
at issue, in this case, all include a number of mechanisms designed to
guard against theft, and these specific vehicle models also comply fully
with all the requirements outlined in applicable Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standards, including FMVSS 114 that governs theft protection
measures,” said Bell.
The federal lawsuit Seattle is involved in specifically refers to videos
shared on TikTok. A TikTok spokesperson points out that videos have been
shared on other social media platforms too. TikTok says the company works
to remove those kinds of videos because it violates the company's rules.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
property-crime-public-safety-changing-lives/281-20b5151f-6cc1-4a01-87a1-
19a3c2ebd513
SEATTLE — The craze to steal Kias and Hyundais is not just a property
crime but a threat to public safety as well, according to Seattle City
Attorney Ann Davison.
Davison is leading the national charge to hold the automakers accountable.
According to a lawsuit, the explosion of stealing Kias and Hyundais
started as a TikTok challenge with young people showing off and joyriding,
but KING 5 found that there is nothing carefree about these crimes. For
some victims, it changed their lives forever.
Inside Valentina Andriyuk's Des Moines home, she shared memories of her
younger brother. Bohdan Vetrov was a father to seven children. He moved
his family from Ukraine six years ago to join relatives in Washington
state.
"Father’s Day, they stayed in my house. His family is here. It is 11 days
before he died,” said Andriyuk.
Eleven days later, there was an alleged crime spree that started with a
stolen Kia.
Lakewood police say on June 29, two 16-year-olds stole a Kia and used the
car in an armed robbery, raced away from police, and crashed into a semi-
truck.
"And unfortunately, when they struck that truck, it ejected the driver of
the semi-truck who landed on I-5 and was deceased,” said Lakewood police
Sgt. Charles Porche.
That driver was Andriyuk’s brother, Bohdan Vetrov. She will never forget
that phone call.
"They said that Bohdan died. You know, he was healthy. No one expected
that. We were in shock. We didn't know what to do,” said Andriyuk.
What happened to Bohdan is part of a shared national tragedy because of a
car theft trend that took off.
KING 5 obtained legal documents and photos showing crash after crash
across the country, from Milwaukee to Madison, Cleveland to Colombus,
Buffalo to Baltimore. All the cities say stolen Kias or Hyundais were
involved. Police said in some of the cases people got hurt or killed
after the theft.
"It is a stolen car and there is the argument of well, that is just the
property crime part of it. But you have to look at the totality of
everything that happened there, right,” said Sgt. Porsche.
"There's no way this is a victimless crime. Some of the incidents I know
were actual assaults on elderly people to take their Kia or Hyundai at
that moment,” said Davison.
In Seattle, from 2021 to 2022 thefts of Hyundais increased by 363% and
Kia’s by 503%.
"Our last numbers and data show that as of August of 2023, three-fourths
of the vehicles that were stolen are of these manufacturers,” said
Davison.
“We have been partnering with law enforcement all over the country
including there in Seattle region on this unfortunate crime situation that
has been really fed by social media,” said James Bell, head of
communications of Kia America.
The Kia Boyz challenge on social media is making it easy for thieves to
pull off the crimes. The videos feature tutorials on exactly how to steal
the cars.
"It is not a good way that they choose,” said Andriyuk. "It is very
dangerous and not good."
"The manufacturer chose from 2011 to 2021, for a 10-year timespan, to
exclude nearly universal anti-theft technology in those vehicles as they
sold them,” said Davison.
Seattle's city attorney took the lead in trying to hold the automakers
accountable.
"I was the first to file suit for the city of Seattle,” said Davison.
That was in January, since then 16 more government agencies across the
country have joined in, suing the automaker in federal court.
"I think the right thing to do is to recall these vehicles and install the
anti-theft technology,” said Davison.
When asked why Kia didn’t install the technology in the first place, Bell
said, "I can't speak to that. I am not in the product planning department.
I don't know what the decisions were and how they were rendered, but what
I can tell you is all Kia vehicles including any of the vehicles that were
part of this issue meet and exceed all federal standards and mandates."
"By looking at the data, it was clear to me that this was becoming a
burden on our police officers and on taxpayers,” said Davison.
The graphs chart the rise in Kia and Hyundai thefts, but what the charts
don't show is the toll that's taking on human lives.
"Nobody expected that,” said Andriyuk about her brother’s death. “But we
have to live with it. What can we do?"
The Seattle city attorney said the people committing the crimes need to be
held accountable, but so do the automakers who should have installed anti-
theft technology.
A federal judge recently dismissed a motion to throw out the lawsuit.
“While we disagree with the court’s ruling, we remain confident that the
evidence in this case will demonstrate that the plaintiffs’ legal claims
do not have merit. As we have said from the outset, the Kia vehicle models
at issue, in this case, all include a number of mechanisms designed to
guard against theft, and these specific vehicle models also comply fully
with all the requirements outlined in applicable Federal Motor Vehicle
Safety Standards, including FMVSS 114 that governs theft protection
measures,” said Bell.
The federal lawsuit Seattle is involved in specifically refers to videos
shared on TikTok. A TikTok spokesperson points out that videos have been
shared on other social media platforms too. TikTok says the company works
to remove those kinds of videos because it violates the company's rules.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
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