Bride Helps Police Chase Down Stolen Car, with Wedding Dress and Decorations Inside, Just Days Before Her Ceremony By Charlotte Phillipp

A Massachusetts couple nearly lost everything they needed for their upcoming wedding when a thief took off with their fully packed car — but the quick-thinking bride helped police chase down the vehicle.

According to local Boston outlet WHDH, soon-to-be-married couple Julia Pallis and Collin Tully were just about to set off for their Vermont wedding from their home in the Boston area on Thursday, Aug. 28, when the incident occurred.

Pallis told the outlet that their car was “packed to the brim” with “boxes, drinks, signs, decorations” — as well as her wedding dress.

Tully said that he had left the car running and went inside to find his fiancée when they realized that something had happened.

“In what could only have been a minute, minute and a half tops, between going back inside and telling her [Pallis] that the car was loaded up, ready to go, and then walked outside to not having a car anymore,” Tully, a Boston firefighter, recounted.

Reacting quickly, Pallis began thinking about everything that had been left inside the stolen vehicle.

“I was thinking obviously about all the things in the car. ‘Oh my wallet, I should turn off my cards,’ ” she recalled to WHDH. “And then I thought, ‘Oh my laptop is in there, such a bummer.’ ”

“Then I thought,” she continued, ” ‘Oh my gosh, I can track my laptop!’ ”

The bride-to-be then recounted hopping in her own car and chasing after the car thief, tracking the computer through the Boston suburbs.

“She acted quickly, got in her personal car, and tracked the car until police cruisers could eventually catch up to her. She was giving them live reports,” Tully said.

Luckily for the bride, the stolen vehicle drove right past a police officer on detail, and Pallis was able to alert her to the situation.

“Honestly, that officer who was driving the detail, we owe her our whole wedding. She’s the MVP,” Pallis said. “We’re thanking our lucky stars for her.”

Police in the nearby town of Bridgewater said in a statement that they were notified at around 8:42 a.m. local time that the stolen vehicle had entered their city limits. Pallis told WHDH that she continued giving them updates on the car’s exact location as often as she could.

Officers quickly located the car, and they, along with police from neighboring East Bridgewater, eventually caught up to the driver — identified by police as 31-year-old Jason Grossett — and took him into custody.

All of the items inside — including Pallis’ wedding gown — were recovered, according to authorities.

Police said that no injuries were reported, and Grossett is now facing several charges, including failure to stop for police, reckless operation of a vehicle and driving with a suspended license.

As for Tully, he praised his fiancée for her quick thinking.

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“I’m sure maybe inside, she was a little angry, but she was a rock star on the outside for sure,” he told WHDH.

The couple was able to proceed with their wedding weekend as planned, according to WHDH, and Pallis told the outlet they feel even more confident in their decision to get married than ever before.

“[We’re] even more confident after going through this than we were before that,” she said. “We’re making the right choice.”