Stolen car lost and found ... and lost

Erik Schoenleber was riding the bus to class Wednesday morning when, to his surprise, he spotted two men inside his Honda CR-V at the 7-Eleven on Denny Way. The car had been stolen a week earlier.

There was no mistaking it either. Schoenleber's roof rack had been cushioned with four tennis balls; one remained.

Schoenleber, a 25-year-old community-college student, hopped off the bus and phoned police, keeping an eye on the two men from a nearby bank on Fourth Avenue.

Adrenaline coursed through him. Of all times to have his car stolen. He'd just had surgery the week before to remove a tumor on his skull. And nearly $2,000 worth of tools — Schoenleber studies marine carpentry — were in the car when it disappeared from his Queen Anne apartment complex.

Schoenleber held on to the hope the car would resurface. The day after it was stolen, police spotted two men sleeping in the car in South Lake Union and moved in. But the driver woke up and got away after a brief chase.

A week later, as Schoenleber was idly looking out the window of the Metro bus, "I was like, 'Holy [expletive]! There's my car!"

Soon, three patrol cars arrived and boxed in the Honda behind the convenience store. But the driver — a wanted felon with a long criminal history — was undaunted.

He smashed through the police-car barricade, gunned the accelerator and headed south on Fourth Avenue North, records show. The street is one-way northbound.

Schoenleber watched debris fly and smoke rise from his car tires.

"I was holding my hands over my face," he said. "I was thinking, 'This is insane.' "

A chase ensued. The driver clipped a car on Denny Way and drove in a "dangerous and reckless" manner through downtown streets, records show. The suspects headed up Queen Anne Hill and crashed the Honda through metal posts at the entrance of Kinnear Park.

The hood popped open and the driver couldn't see, according to the police report. He pushed on, driving down a pedestrian path until he lost control and hit an embankment. The passenger surrendered, but the driver, who tried to escape, had to be Tasered, the report says. Both were arrested.

As for Schoenleber's Honda, it was totaled.

Gnarled metal, a destroyed front end and a missing bumper were just some of the highlights to greet him, he said.

Then he looked inside. Used syringes, rubber tourniquets and vials of what police described as liquid heroin littered the floors and seats, he said.

Police handed Schoenleber gloves and cautioned him to search the car carefully. He found his tools, disassembled and scattered, but there, nonetheless. The car was taken to the police-impound lot, where it remains.

Later that morning, Schoenleber bought three lottery tickets.

"If there was ever a time for me to win, it would be now," he said. "I mean, what are the chances of this?"

Unfortunately, he didn't win.

Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com