Good cop, good cop, and good cop
Monday February 27th 2012, 9:31 pm
Filed under: Family,Life

My neighbor had hired someone to do a day job on her trees.

My husband is a ham radio operator, and though it hasn’t happened in a long time, he’s been known to leave a radio on that will suddenly cackle out a man’s voice randomly in the middle of the day and throw me for a minute.

Which is what I thought it must be. Had to be.  (Which began growing into, it did have to, didn’t it?..!) I was doing laundry at the back of the house and I ignored it.

Till I couldn’t.

There it was again. And louder. And too clear of radio static–what on earth?! I started walking down the hallway, wondering if somehow Richard had come home in the middle of the afternoon without calling first–this doesn’t happen–and it wasn’t his voice–and wondering if I should grab a phone on my way past the one near the door in his office. Seemed way too paranoid. Didn’t.

Which was really, really, really stupid.

HELLO?!?

That one was clear as a bell.  As I came around the corner to my kitchen, there he was. Standing in the middle of my locked house in the middle of the day with me inside with him. I had never seen the man before in my life.

“How did you get IN here?!” was the only thing that could come out of my stunned mouth. I looked at the door: it was indeed still locked. And the door was wide open.

“Your car alarm is going off.” And so it was. Then he told me he knocked and it just, kinda, you know, came open when he knocked harder.

“Let me go get my keys,” as he turned and walked away down the sidewalk. While I was hoping I actually still had some, panicking when I didn’t immediately find them. I had taken them out of my purse–my purse! My purse in the other room was somehow still there, I guess he didn’t see it!–for some reason a few minutes before all this started, but do you think I remembered that now? (And yes, I was abruptly as scattered as that paragraph sounds.)

My first reaction after he left was to turn to my husband: I called him at work to ask him to be more careful about shutting the door tightly on his way out in the morning; I knew *I* hadn’t gone through that door all day. I was surprised at how shaky my voice sounded. But then, I had no idea how many strange men might still be there inside my house and how much of it this guy might have just cased.

“Alison. CALL THE COPS.”

Oh. Right. Cops. Duh. But the car alarm really was going off… (And so nicely turned itself back off before I could even get outside with those keys. This was quite a relief.)

“Alison.”

Right.

I was on the phone with the dispatcher, watching out the window, when, a few minutes into the call, I confirmed to her, “That’s him” as the man walked down the street towards a patrol car with two officers, everything casual. Next thing I knew he seemed to be resisting and suddenly one cop had crouched straight into a ‘Freeze or I’ll shoot!’ mode and the other was putting handcuffs on the guy’s hands behind his back.

All they knew about him was that he had walked into a locked house in the middle of the day with someone home. Not exactly the social norm. They had to respond to his body language (and I have no idea what words might have been said). They had to be careful and they had to establish who was in charge.

But watching from inside, I thought I was about to see someone die because my car alarm had gone off, whatever the man’s intentions, and I turned away, unable to bear it.  At some point I looked again, and the handcuffs were off; they had talked the guy down to where things needed to be. They moved out of my line of sight towards that car.

The dispatcher had hung up and a third cop came to my door. After what seemed like forever, one of the others did too, and repeated what the first had asked me: did I want to press trespassing charges?

I asked, Was he someone on the lam with other charges pending, or was he really that much of an idiot?

The cop who’d been talking to the guy responded that he thought the guy was definitely a few screws loose, but he thought the guy did simply mean well. He did enter a stranger’s house and that is seriously not cool; the cop told the guy, You could have been blown away by someone defending their home!

I pointed out, And he did lie to you when he told you my door was unlocked.

I showed them that door. See: it is still locked. I haven’t touched it.

We decided to let him go as a well-meaning idiot. He went back to work on those trees. You know they’ve got his truck’s license carefully taken down (and that it must have come up clear.)

Richard came home early. I was so glad.


18 Comments so far
Leave a comment

Ok…you definately DO get all the excitement down your way! SOOO glad things turned out as well as they did. Too creepy for me.

Comment by Ruth 02.27.12 @ 9:57 pm

Whew! So glad it was just a well meaning fellow who apparently meant only to advise you of your car alarm going off. Then again the car alarm could have easily been a distraction. I’m glad it was just one of those things.

Comment by Shelly H 02.27.12 @ 10:04 pm

no words, just gratitude.

Comment by Tola 02.27.12 @ 10:05 pm

Reading this, my heart just raced – I first saw your Facebook posting. I can only imagine how fast this all flew by for you, and we’re all aware of how we *should* be reacting to the situation, but who really expects a strange man standing in your living room when you are certain the house is locked?

Whether the car alarm was a ruse and whether the door “popped” open or a credit card was used to gain entry, the outcome was good, in that he left and the cops came to be sure he really left. We all hear stories of hired workers taking advantage of people, stealing from them instead of doing the work they were hired to do – who knew if this one was branching out?

Whatever the case, so glad you are well, though quite shaken, and I hope that Richard held you in his big strong arms for however long it took (takes) you to feel safe and calm.

Hugs, Dear One 🙂
Cathy

Comment by Cathy 02.27.12 @ 10:42 pm

Oh! No! Oh! Yes!!! Thank goodness he was just a goofball, or at least startled by you enough to change his mind and retreat. Yes, Richard, slam that door if you have to, to be sure it is shut. I am so thankful you are safe now. Big hug!

Comment by DebbieR 02.28.12 @ 12:20 am

Glad you are safe! What an experience!

Comment by Maija-Liisa 02.28.12 @ 5:39 am

So happy your guardian angel was watching over you. I would have gone into crazy mode, which might be a good thing to scare off the intruder.

Comment by Jody 02.28.12 @ 6:30 am

How did you stay so calm? I would have screamed, thrown something, definitely not have been calm.

Comment by Sherry in Idaho 02.28.12 @ 7:23 am

So much for a boring day in suburbia!! I’m glad you’re okay and hope you slept well.

Comment by Channon 02.28.12 @ 7:25 am

Okay, repeat after me, ‘it is totally okay to be paranoid’! Srsly, you have those instincts for a reason.

Glad it worked out okay.

Comment by RobinH 02.28.12 @ 7:43 am

YOUCH!! What are you trying to do, scare the daylights out of ME? What kind of lock do you have on your door? Glad it all turned out all right.

Comment by Don Meyer 02.28.12 @ 9:50 am

could I suggest a good dead bolt on that door?! YIKES!! glad no harm was done, but still, how scary

Comment by Bev 02.28.12 @ 9:53 am

I’m glad it turned out well but oh how scarey! And I’m still left wondering how he got in that locked door.

Comment by Charlotte 02.28.12 @ 11:04 am

Oye. Just, oye. Glad that it all ended well.

Comment by lynn 02.28.12 @ 5:28 pm

That HAD to bring your blood pressure up… It did mine! I, too, am glad it ended with no more than this to report. I hope you sleep well.

Comment by Suzanne in Montreal 02.28.12 @ 9:32 pm

Even though I was forewarned, my heart thudded a bit. Take care!

Comment by twinsetellen 02.28.12 @ 9:33 pm

Such a scary thing, a home invasion no matter the initial cause. When I lost everything in a house fire in Japan, what really affected me most was that it was arson, that someone entered my home with the intent to destroy.
So glad you are safe.

Comment by Diana Troldahl 03.01.12 @ 8:42 am

Oh, my dear, dear! I’m so glad it turned out ok. Might be time for Richard to take a closer look at that door, eh?

Similar story – one mild Saturday morning I was having a little lie-in and my husband was reading the paper in the living room, with the front door open and the screen door on. I thought I saw someone walk past the bedroom window, and a moment later, the front door opened. It was some strange guy who just walked in our house! We were all so startled, no one could say anything! Even the dog didn’t bark! My husband finally said “What are you doing in here?” and the guy turned around and left. Huh. Never found out who he was, or why he wandered in. I’m just glad he left.

Many good thoughts coming your way!

Comment by Pegi 03.01.12 @ 7:01 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)