AVERAGE JOE AMERICAN

Saturday, January 9, 2010

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Attempted Home Invasion - Thwarted

I was just sitting in my family room, playing games on the Wii with my son, when my wife said, "Some guy just walked through our yard. He looked in the window." At first I just kept playing, then she said, "What's he doing?"

So I quit playing the game, said, "Is he still out there?" and walked to the patio doors. There at the house behind ours stood a 20-something black male trying to open the patio doors of our neighbor's house. He was wearing a black coat, gray pants, and a dark winter hat. I opened the door and yelled, "Hey!" Of course, he didn't look -- wanted to make sure I couldn't identify his face -- he just turned and started to walk away. I told my wife to call the Police and headed out the door after him, trudging through the snow in house slippers with no coat on.

I called 911 on my cell phone as I followed him down the street, talking on speakerphone. The man walked slowly around the house as I followed, and started running when he rounded the corner. I ran after him, and when he slowed to a walk so did I, staying close enough for him to hear me talking to the 911 dispatcher but far enough away to maintain safety. Not knowing if he was armed I wasn't about to try to tackle a man half my age and five inches taller who has nothing to lose and his freedom to gain.

Half a block down the road his friend was waiting: another tall black male wearing a tan Carharrt coat and dark blue jeans so low that as he turned to flee he tripped over his own crotch and fell in the snow. Having given descriptions of both creeps to the 911 operator I continued to follow the one who had walked through my yard and tried to walk in to my neighbor's house.

I updated 911 as the creep ran through another yard and vaulted a fence. "He just jumped the fence," I said as I ran along the fence. "He's hiding between two sheds now where he thinks I can't see him."

I heard him jump over something and saw him come back between the sheds. "He just jumped the fence again," I said as I followed him around the house where he jumped the fence a third time and fled. In my slippers, which were now soaked with snow, I wasn't prepared to jump the fence and go after him.

I waited for the Police to arrive at the street corner with a nearby resident who had seen his buddy flee in the opposite direction. Two Cumberland, Indiana, officers responded and began searching the area while an IMPD officer was at my house taking a report from my wife.

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Shortly after I began writing this, the phone rang, and the IMPD officer informed me that they had a suspect in custody nearby. He asked me if I would like to come by and identify him.

I drove the short distance (less than a quarter mile) to a house in the 900 block of Woodlark between Tenth and Washington Streets on Indy's east side, where the officer met me on the street. As I waited in the car he brought the suspect out onto the porch in handcuffs. Standing there before me was creep number two, the buddy with the baggy pants who had taken off running when he saw me chasing his friend down the street. I confirmed his identity and told the officer which one he was.

Moments later, the officer asked me to stick around and get a look at a second person. This one was brought to the porch sans handcuffs. He had ditched the black coat and changed out of his gray pants, but was wearing the same dark winter hat I had chased down the street moments earlier.

The officer thanked me for getting involved, informed me that both the creeps had a record, but said they would probably not be able to arrest them since they hadn't actually entered the home.

It's great to see the authorities respond so quickly and successfully, but a little disappointing to know the creeps got away this time. My wife is concerned that they might come back for revenge. I suspect that they're just cowardly enough to stay away from the house where a crazy man in house slippers chased them a block and half and later returned to identify them.

Maybe I'll start looking into security systems, anyway.

Below this post are pictures and a Google Maps link of the house where the creeps were found by the Police. Got any similar stories you'd care to share?

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