Last night, my wife and I sat down to the five minute news recap at 10 and then I was off to get a shower. As I came out of our bedroom to head to the bathroom, Molly, our big outside dog, started to bark. Molly has discernible barks. I can normally tell when she wants something, like water, or when someone is at our door, or when a neighbor dog is running by, etc. This bark sounded like someone was outside and I walked to our living room window to see who. I expected to see some teenagers walking down the street. As I drew the curtain back to the living room window, I saw a person standing inside our fence on our patio near our living room window. He saw me, turned, and ran. I quickly moved to our front door and looked out. I expected to see the man jump our front fence or run out of our gate but instead he ran around to the other side of our house. I quickly moved to our bedroom, obtained a sidearm, and went out the back door. I rounded the corner of the house, didn't see anyone, and then went up to the higher level of our rear yard. With my gun drawn, I scanned the upper street to see where the man may have run. As I scanned, I looked down towards the rear of my home and saw a person laying on the ground behind my kids swimming pool. He was trying to hide between the pool and the wall of our house, or so he thought, but he wasn't aware I saw him. I yelled, telling him to stay where he was, identify himself, and explain his reason for being there. He didn't respond. I called out again and again, no response. I yelled to my wife to call the police immediately. The man started to get up, I yelled out that he needed to stay where he was and identify himself. He responded this time. I knew him. He goes to our church. He wasn't there to steal something. He wasn't there to knock on our door and run away like kids do. He was there to try to look into our windows to see what he could see. Most likely, my wife. (I'm holding out hope he has a thing for me, just kidding) My neighbor returned home as I was questioning the man and like any good neighbor, he came over to assist (with his sidearm of course). My neighbor had a police radio and called down to the sheriff's to report a home invasion. They said they would be there in a whopping 30 minutes. We waited, kept an eye on our temporary prisoner, and didn't allow him to move. He came towards the both of us several times, trying to apologize and offer his hand, but we refused. In addition to trying to look into our home, he smelled of alcohol. He kept the excuses coming. After about 40 minutes, four sheriffs arrived expecting to get information on what had happened and then to track down the criminal. Then my neighbor informed them that I was holding the perpetrator in the back yard. They seemed surprised and pleased. I knew the man was on probation and knew he would be arrested and go to jail. They cuffed him and hauled him off.
From what I have learned, this isn't the first time the man has peeped but it is the first time he was caught and arrested for it. I was up all night, adrenaline running, but in the end, it was good to know that my dog has my back and that we have wonderful and supportive neighbors.(A second neighbor came over to watch the arrest) Justice is served.
5 comments:
the only thing that would have made for a better story is if it had happened just after you had stepped out of the shower, instead of on your way to the bathroom; the 8 citizens of Eureka would have had quite the show for their weekend porch talks after they the pasty whiteness of a base assed mark, guns a blazing talking to some guy in a kiddie pool.
Honestly, even as it stands, your story seems too fantastical to be real....it even makes me want to live in that town of yours if only for a happenstance glance at the shenanigans that seem to abound there.
Ibid,
Sadly, I exaggerated nothing. I probably left out all of the boring details such as his lame excuses that he came up with every few seconds. We would be happy to have you in our little town and you too could experience life as the Eurekanites do.
By the way, he wasn't in the kiddie pool and who said I wasn't already undressed?
Good grief. I had no idea Eureka had its problems too. I'm glad you guys are okay.
I am sending this to my wife as an example of why I need a handgun instead of rifles. Although the one time a guy just walked into our home while we were reading on the couch and that still hasn't done it. Then again, we didn't really have any proof that he was attempting anything malicious.
Holy crap. That's one crazy experience. You could write a book just on things you've seen happen in Eureka. Nice garden by the way.
Post a Comment