Police use all sorts of methods to return stolen cars. One that’s seeing a lot of use recently is called a “tire grappler,” which works by shooting out a net that wraps around a car’s rear tire and axle. This prevents the car from moving and, hopefully, allows an officer to arrest the driver.

The problem is, this can also destroy the car.

A recent video from Michigan showed the Livonia Police Department deploying one of these tire grapplers on a stolen vehicle. While the device was correctly deployed, the result was that the driver of the stolen vehicle tried to drive through the catch — causing the car’s axle to pop off.

Did this technically stop the car? Sure, “Mission Accomplished” and so on. If I were the owner of the car, would I be happy about this? Probably not.

Michigan State Police have released dash cam showing how a stolen vehicle’s axle was ripped off by a tire grappler pic.twitter.com/4iqotIUkq9

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) August 29, 2025