Late Thursday was a wild night in downtown Charlotte, N. C. A guy parks his car and walks toward his apartment when two bandits with guns confront him. They take his money and his car keys. Apparently the victim gives the armed bandits some lip and they pistol whip him. The vic ends up with seven stitches in his forehead to remind him of the event.

The two bandits are fleeing in the vic’s Mustang when Charlotte cops on patrol spot them and give chase. The speed of the chase gets way out of line so the cops back off — broadcasting the make, model and tag number.

A few blocks later, still speeding away from the cops, the bandits wreck the Mustang on Berkshire Freeway near Independence Blvd.

A man in an SUV stops to offer assistance but the bandits turn their guns on the Good Samaritan and high-jack his SUV.

As the bandits drive off in the stolen SUV, the Good Samaritan must think he’s had about enough of that. Using a firearm (he’s authorized to have) he shoots at the fleeing vehicle. A bullet hits the driver and the SUV plows into a pole on Berkshire Freeway near I-77.

The driver slumps over the wheel while the other bandit bails out and runs. Seconds later the SUV explodes in a fiery blast!

Police and firefighters pull the dead driver (bandit #1) out of the burning SUV. It’s not yet known if he died from a gunshot wound or the crash and fire. A few hours later, acting on a tip, Charlotte cops nab bandit #2 at his girlfriend’s apartment.

I saved the best part till last: The Good Samaritan who fired shots at his attackers is a detective from the nearby Gastonia Police Dept. He’s an undercover narc and was working a case that’d led him to Charlotte.

You gotta wonder what was in the back of that SUV that made it go BOOM.