Haven't had this much excitement since I was a

[copperkid3]

cop! Came out this morning to refill the outdoor boiler with wood and the dog started

barking and there was a guy in the side yard acting very surprised. That made two of

us, as the only place that he could have come from was the lower driveway. He quickly

claimed that he was looking for a lost dog and beat a hasty retreat to a waiting beater

red chevy mini-truck, which I noted, had backed the entire way up the 220' driveway.

No one looking for a lost dog, backs up an unknown driveway and since my folks

place was burglarized 2 years ago and have also been hit 5 times for loose scrap metal

the past few months, figured these might be the same guys and got in my truck to at

least get a better description and/or plate #. Imagine my surprise, when I spotted the

same guy (minus the truck; he'd been dropped off at the intersection) and appeared to

be contemplating my parent's vacant residence. I rolled up on him and started asking

questions as to where he'd lost the dog (didn't answer that one) and where he lived. . .

When he claimed: "Over there" and pointed in a southern direction, I knew these guys

weren't out looking for a dog, but scoping out places to steal from. Told him that "over

there" didn't cut it and asked for a.street and number. Didn't get the number, but the

street mentioned was over 7 miles away! Told him that I doubted his dog wandered

that far and he responded by stating he wasn't a thief . . . how telling to proclaim that.

Asked where his buddy was with the truck and he mentioned that he didn't know . . .

other than looking for that mythical dog. He then said he had to go and took off on a

slow run heading south. Since I'd taken off without my cell phone, drove up to the

neighbors and borrowed theirs and called 911 and gave them a brief description on

what had happened. I then went out looking for them and saw "my guy" still walking

southbound and looking over his shoulder constantly. I returned home to see if anything

had been stolen and then decided it migbt be best to find the suspect vehicle and

then call 911 again for an update. By this time, the suspect had managed to walk a

mile without finding his ride and I pulled into the driveway of a neighbor and asked to

use her phone and again updated 911 on the suspect's direction of travel. No sooner

had I got into my vehicle to continue following him, then I noticed that he was picked

up by his accomplice who had been parked in the nearby cemetary. They passed me

and when I turned around, noticed that the chase was on, as they accelerated and

during the next 15 minutes, we both broke a number of traffic laws! I would start to

lose them on the long straight away stretches, (and cursed my 4 cylinder), but would

gain on them when they made turns. The last turn, we'd crossed the county line

(btw: which was in the exact opposite direction of where he claimed to live) and I was

only 20 seconds behind them, when they went over a hill and disappeared. On reaching

the top of it, they were nowhere to be seen . . . and the next crossroad was a half mile

away. I went to that intersection and they were not visible in either direction which is

flat and straight for a mile in both directions. Therefore, they must have gone into the

driveway of 1 of 3 possible houses on that stretch that I'd last seen them on. Couldn't

see anything from the roadway, so decided to head home and fill 911 in. They eventually

sent out a deputy who stated they.were checking the area and that apparently this

wasn't the first time that they'd been reported as thieves who managed to get away.

Hopefully, they went to their home or that of a friend's and this latest information will

be enough to locate and prosecute them. Now back to another boring Monday . . . .

[EDDIE BUCK]

Sounds like the cops already knew who the suspects were.I'd bet a quarter they have a photo of them down at the jail.
Once when I was doing a little investigating about a check I was supposed to have received,with the suspects name on a piece of paper ,I handed it to the guy behind the desk at the police department.He knew her right off and said good,this will give us a reason to question her about a drug related murder she supposedly knows something about.

Reason?I thought to my self. Ain't murder reason enough?Anyway I never heard from the police anymore.My own investigating found the store that cashed the check.They called the company who wrote the check, and I was written a new check.

Whatever happened to the suspect or whether the store that cashed it got their money back,your guess is as good as mine.Glad you and yours suffered no loss as you know of.

[7thswan]

Hope things work out and the crooks are found.

[Tricky Grama]

Wow, be careful w/that sort of thing...someone coulda been armed (besides YOU, I mean!)

[Warwalk]

It's always such a tough situation, and alot of the time the cops wind up pointing their fingers at ~you~ (which isn't nice, but it seems to happen that way). We had a similar situation during the latter half of college. My parents had gotten split up, and I convinced my mom to let me come home and do the "basement living" while I wrapped up school in exchange for grass cutting and all that type of stuff.

Anyhow, being a nice neighborhood but adjacent several busy roads, people had had stuff stolen over the past year (car radios, lawnmowers, cars, etc) and one night while I was up laaate late studying a car comes rolling down the street with it's lights off. They paused, then rolled a little further, then paused again, then rolled further. Then they accelerated and headed on down the road. This happened several times over the course of a few weeks.

One day, as I heard the car coming (it wasn't there every day) I jumped up, ran out to my vehicle, and tore off down the road. I stopped the guy driving it, cutting my car in front of his (dang I can do dumb stuff) and asked him what he was doing. He said "delivering papers"... I said "where are your papers then?"... he just smiled and looked at me. I realized my stupidity, as I didn't have a follow-up move, so I wrote down his license plate and passed it on to a County detective that very day.

The county detective kind of surprised me. He said I should let the whole thing drop, not to follow anyone, that ~I~ could be the one that got into trouble next time, and had there been an altercation it's highly likely I would have been the one that was charged. It's horrible, as even when people are trying to protect themselves and what's theirs, they can be considered the one at fault in the eyes of the law. What are we supposed to do, just allow ourselves to be picked blind?