Jon’s Corner of the Whirled

There was yet another adventure in the Hawthorne neighborhood this morning. At 3:30 AM, the dog started barking, this is nothing new. As usual I got up and looked out the window. Unlike most of the times when the dog barking in the middle of the night, there was something to bark at. Sitting next to the driveway at the house across the street, a guy was doing something. I couldn’t tell immediately what he was doing. He had a backpack at his feet, and seemed to be prying at things. It seemed odd that someone would be sitting in front of a home at 3:30 AM going through a backpack. I watched him for a couple of minutes and then called the police non-emergency number. After a brief description of the individual and his behavior, I was off the phone. I continued to watch him. That’s when things became amusing. He took, what looked to be a digital camera out of the backpack, and flashed the camera right in his face. It was pretty obvious that he hadn’t used the camera before. Then he pulled a laser pointer out and shined it around. He kept mucking around in the bag, pulling out different things, but in the dark it was difficult to see what he was doing. He stuffed some things from the backpack into his pockets, or fanny pack. I couldn’t tell which. I then called the police again to let them know that I was pretty sure the guy was playing with stuff he had stolen. I got out our digital camera and took some nightshot pictures, of the guy while I watched him. He stood up, and started taking pictures with the camera.

About that time, the first police officer drove up. The officer asked the guy for ID, which he said he didn’t have. I could hear most of the conversation across the street through our open window. He claimed that someone had given him the stuff. While the officer was going through the guys backpack, he found a laptop, and other expensive things. I realized that the officer might be interested in the fact that he had taken things out of the backpack and put them in his pocket. I didn’t want this guy to see me, or where I lived, so I called the non-emergency number again, and gave the additional information. Another officer arrived. Then a third appeared. A few minutes later, the officer started checking the guy more carefully. They found a wallet, and soon after had him in handcuffs. Once they put him in a car, I went out to talk to one of the officers. It turns out that the guy had a gun, and was wanted in connection with a couple of burglaries, as well as a high speed chase in Lake Oswego. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep any more. Hooray for our crime fighting poodle:

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2004 at 10:22 am and is filed under Family, General, The House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.