WILTON, Minn. - Longtime friends Chase Torgerson and Cody Charpentier were driving along a northwestern Minnesota highway near Wilton when they saw a car fly through the air and crash into a median.



They jumped out to help — only to turn around moments later and see one of the passengers from the crashed car hop into Torgerson's vehicle and peel away. And, to make matters worse, the car thief rolled Torgerson's car, totalling it, just about 800 yards down the road on Highway 2.

"Look what you get for your trouble," State Patrol Capt. Dick Wittenberg said of Torgerson's good deed. "You get your car stolen."

Torgerson and Charpentier saw the car crash early Tuesday and sprang into action. Torgerson, who has had National Guard training, began tending to an injured passenger who was dangling out of two blown-out windows.

He even put his own gloves on the victim and, with wind chills at minus-34 degrees, he used his bare hand to call 911 with his cell phone.

"Chase! Turn around! Your car!" Charpentier screamed. Torgerson, 20, of Clearbrook, saw one of the uninjured passengers commandeer his car.

"What can I do?" he recalled. "There goes my car. I'm still on the line with 911."

Once Torgerson's car was totaled, the car thief fled on foot. Authorities used a police dog to find the driver, who was hiding under a semitrailer truck.

Wittenberg said all three people in the first vehicle were "heavily intoxicated."

The man Torgerson helped "was bleeding, moaning and grunting," recalled Torgerson, who is based at Camp Ripley and is waiting to be sent overseas.

"I felt around, grabbed his leg lightly, grabbed his arms to make sure he wasn't paralyzed, but he said he could feel everything," he said.

When all was said and done, the slightly hurt getaway driver and a passenger ended up in jail, and one man landed in the hospital with serious injuries.

For Torgerson, his 17-year-old sedan was "smashed pretty good," but he said he'd do it again if faced with another situation.

Next time, though, he won't leave his keys in the car.

"I didn't know what kind of people they were," he said.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

There surely are some scum out there.

That's for sure. Pretty sad.

this kind of crap makes people stop doing good things

Honesty the person who took the other car should have been killed on site.

This guy was a good samaritan....Unfortunately it's incidents like this that make people wary of helping others...

Alcohol can make people do some of the stupidest (and most ungrateful) things.

I agree. Alot of my driving is on rural roads. And I'm often scared to stop and help someone who is broke down along the road.

Is it a con ? Are they going to rob me ?

The thiefs mother must be SO proud, she can proabably tell him how pround she is in a letter from the jail SHE'S probably housed in at the moment, brought 'em up right.

Good times...

I hope he had good insurance!

who is based at Camp Ripley and is waiting to be sent overseas.

Maybe why they were intoxicated is because they know where they were going?

Hiding under a semi-truck trailer in -34 weather? Chilly, hopefully it sobered him up quickly and remembers that he left his friend hanging out in that weather.

Re-read it, BQ. The guy who's waiting to be sent overseas is the one whose car was stolen.

I hope the police gave him 5 minutes alone with the guy who stole his car! I'd want to beat the living snot out of him. As for the injured one, hopefully he realises now what a good friend he has..............NOT! The poor bloke stopped and did the right thing and scum steals his car