snatches woman's phone following minor wreck, dies trying to make getaway
A suspected thief killed himself for a cell phone overnight.
Police say a woman told authorities another driver bumped her car from behind near I-10 and Ralph Fair Road on the far northwest side last night.
When the woman stopped, police say Barton Touchstone, 48, leaned into her car and asked to borrow her cell phone.
When she gave it to him, Touchstone jumped back into his pickup, floored it, and tried to get away with the phone.
But moments later, he crashed, flipping his truck which then caught fire.
Touchstone was pronounced dead at the scene, after several passersby had tried to pull him out of his burning pickup.
The woman wasn't hurt. Detectives don't know if Touchstone staged the accident intending to steal a phone from the woman or whether it was a spur of the moment theft. They don't think Touchstone and the woman knew each other.
Ironically, many cell phones can be switched off remotely if they are lost or stolen, so the victim died a horrible death...apparently for nothing.
Read more news at 1200 WOAI.
