My neighbor got burgaled

1) Name: - Anon
2) City - Carson City
3) State - Nv
4) Country - United States
5) Date: - May 9, 2007
6) Time: - 08:30:00
7) Who did you witness? - a BURGLAR
8) What did you witness?
Before today, I considered our little neighborhood one of the quietest in the city. We have no street lights and there is very little traffic or noise at any time of day. This is mostly so because there aren't many houses in the area and we live on the outskirts of the city. Something happened this morning that changed all of that.

As I was backing out of my driveway this morning, a man was walking toward the end of the cul-de-sac. He was wearing white tennis shoes, black and white checked pants (they looked like flannel pajama bottoms) and a yellow hooded sweatshirt. He had the hood up. Other than the fact that I didn't recognize him, which is somewhat unusual in our neighborhood because I have seen most if not all of the people that usually take walks, seeing him struck me as strange. First, he didn't look at me even though I came somewhat close to him with my car as I was backing out and leaving. When I'm out walking and I car is headed my direction, I almost always try and make eye contact with the driver so that I know that he sees me. This man didn't do that. When I tried to make eye contact with him, he was only about 3 feet from my driver's side window, so I got a fairly good look at the left side of his face.

After leaving the cul-de-sac, I called my wife and told her not to worry but that I just saw a man that seemed suspicious and that she should be aware. After I hung up the phone, I didn't think much of it. But then she called me at work. She said she saw him walking back toward the street from the end of the cul-de-sac and then suddenly, he was gone. She went and looked in the back yard to see if he'd gone back there, but she didn't see him. In a beautiful moment of good neighborliness, she noticed that our neighbor's garage door was open (as it often is during the day) and gave him a call. He immediately went into his garage and found that he was inexplicably missing an air compressor.

Our neighbor's son is a deputy sheriff for our county, so when my neighbor called the police, he got an extremely quick response. (Thanks Carson City Sheriff!!) If I had to guess, I'd say it was much quicker than usual. The police found our guy parking his car in front of a pawn shop about 5 blocks from our house. He'd taken off the yellow sweatshirt, but he was still wearing the unique black and white checkered pants. After Whitney went to the pawn shop to identify him as the man she saw, but couldn't with any certainty, I left work and went over there. They pulled him out of the back of a patrol car and made him turn to the side to expose his profile. I said that on a scale of 1 to 10 that I was a 6--mostly sure that it was him. Then I noticed a police officer putting a yellow hooded sweatshirt in the trunk of his car, which sweatshirt he had pulled out of the man's truck. Then I asked to see his pants again, because I'd been focusing on his face, and when I looked again--same pants. So then I added to my written statement that I was 8 or 9 sure, on that same 1 to 10 scale, that he was the man.

In addition to finding my neighbor's air compressor, they found other things, including something out of my neighbor's car, which had been parked inside his garage. I can't imagine the nerve of this guy. Committing a burglary at 8:30 in the morning. Not only going into a garage, but going into the car inside the garage. Very assertive. The police also found drugs and drug paraphernalia, so I think that the case against the man is very solid and I have no doubt that he'll plead guilty when the time comes.

As happens with these things, now my wife is a little nervous about being home alone. She said she won't go on her daily run today. Now she'll be even more paranoid about security at home. I'm glad they caught the guy, and I'm glad my neighbor got his stuff back, but I wish that it hadn't happened. I envision having to get up in the middle of the night to check on strange noises, in my underwear, carrying a bat or some other useless weapon that will only provoke the intruder to use his stolen sidearm. I envision having to remember to lock up much better than we usually do, and having to check that I did so in the middle of the night. I also envision the possibility of having a good excuse to get a really cool dog. Maybe one with a spiked collar and a tattoo. That might make all this worth it.