thoughtnot

Oh, what a night! For the most part, last night was like any other. After watching a little TV, Emily headed to bed and I hit the computer to look up prices on a truck part I need. Around 1:00am I came upstairs to get my coffee and clothes ready for the next morning. At 2:00am, I was preparing to get in bed when headlights lit up our room and I saw someone’s shadow run across the window. And so it began…

Thinking that was a bit odd, I went to the window and looked out in time to see a car shut off its lights and pull up in front of a house down/across the street. A moment later, I saw a “dark figure” run around the Mustang parked in their driveway. I could tell it wasn’t the owners, so I decided it was suspicious enough to call the police. The dispatcher asked me about the car, so I gave the best description I could. It was dark and the car was about 100 yards away, so I couldn’t see it well. It didn’t help that my maglite flashlight was dying. She said they were dispatching an officer to check it out.

I returned to the kitchen and hung up the phone. Since my light was dying, I figured I’d grab my super-bright spotlight from the garage that uses my 19v drill battery. I returned to the bedroom, but thought I’d take one more look outside…. and surprise! There was someone in my neighbor’s van!! They are not usually up at 2am, so I made a split second decision. I slowly and quietly unlocked my door, then quickly shined the spotlight right on the person. I figured if it was my neighbor, no big deal. It was NOT my neighbor! He was trying to hide behind the van, but I still got a good look at him.  I was a bit unprepared for this (as was he), so I said “I see you! I’ve called the police and they’re coming for you!” He said “Thanks!” and took off running. I spotted him for as long as I could, but the van was between us. I then ran in to grab the bedroom phone and call the police again (and woke up Emily in the process).

When I called the police back, the dispatcher asked me for a suspect description and if the suspicious car was still there. I said it was. She again asked for the plate number, but I told her it was 100 yards away and I wasn’t comfortable going to check it out. She then asked me to stay outside & keep an eye on it until the officer arrived, and to let her know which direction he went if he left. I told her I was in my underwear, so I’d have to put something on first. It was around 15° outside, so I was pretty cold standing outside in nothing but my underwear and a tshirt. LOL! The officer arrived about 3 minutes later and got the information from me on what I had seen.

Eventually my street had 4 police cars and a tow truck on it. They checked out the car I reported and it had stolen goods in it and had been reported earlier in the night by someone on the other side of town. Later on, they towed it. I returned to bed, but the dispatcher called me at 2:30am or so to give a report to the officers. They said they had his car, and were going to use a K9 unit to track him down. At 3:30am, the dispatcher called me again (I was asleep this time!) to meet an officer outside to ID the guy. They had caught him running through the next neighborhood. I dressed and an officer picked me up and drove me about 1/4-mile down the road, where I made a positive ID. I finally got to bed at 4:00am.

Overall it was pretty crazy. In retrospect, I should have called the police when I saw him going through my neighbors van instead of popping out unarmed and shining a light on the dude. As it turned out, he had actually taken some stuff from the van, but dropped it when I caught him. And now he’s likely (hopefully!) in jail, so all’s well that ends well!

I would prefer this never happens again, but if it does I’ll be sure to say “reach for the sky!” when I catch the guy. Fortunately for this one, he wasn’t messing with my truck! =)

Update: Hot off the press!
http://www.newsandtribune.com/local/local_story_021141356.html
http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?s=9718711