Bad Boys, Bad Boys...
Some time ago, when we lived in the trailer, the local cops had chased some guy into the trailer park. He was dodging between the trailers and ended up hiding under a trailer near ours. The whole place was surrounded with officers. That story is not the reason for this post, but it provides good background information.
Fast forward to last night, January 12. At about 10:30pm, just before Heather is getting into bed, we go in to peek on Carina as usual. As usual, she was curled up with her Bed Bunny sound asleep. After leaving Carina's room, Heather jumps into bed. We're pretty careful not to leave the cats in Carina's room (the door is closed), so I do my usual head count. I notice that Maya is sitting on the floor in our room, but I don't see Frida. Again, this is fairly normal, so I grab my flashlight and head down the stairs. I take the flashlight for two reasons; one is that it's dark and I don't like to turn a bunch of lights on, and the second is that a flashlight beam is a really easy way to spot a cat in the dark (the eyes reflect the light). Normally, I would go about 2/3 of the way down the steps and swing the flashlight across the downstairs, hitting their favorite sleeping places along the way. These would be, in order; the cat tower, the dining room chairs, the chair in the living room, and the back of the couch (which is all the way across the room from the stairs). Last night it was a quick trip because Frida was in the first spot - on the cat tower. I head back upstairs.
I brush my teeth, take out my contacts, and hop in bed. I start hearing a mechanical noise outside. Sometimes we can hear the trains if they're really loud, but this sounds closer and is continuing on longer than a train would. In the past, we've seen police helicopters flying around at night, so I start to wonder if that's what I'm hearing. I decide to get up and look, so I grab my flashlight (don't want to step on any baby toys) and head to the bedroom window. Looking outside, I don't see the helicopter but I do notice some people coming down the sidewalk with flashlights. When they come into view, they're right in front of our house, their guns are drawn and they're shining their lights into our front yard and looking around. The first thing that comes to my mind is the story mentioned above followed by all sorts of other things like "did I lock the doors?" I tell Heather to get up and go down to Carina's room. Glancing around I notice that my hammer is on the floor in the bedroom (another story) so I pick it up. Yeah, it's kinda cliche, but hey, I wasn't going downstairs empty handed! I make my way down the stairs with my flashlight, turning on lights as I go. Once I'm satisfied that no one is in the house, I go to the front door and crack it open. I'm greeting with "Come out with your hands up!" Yeah, seriously. So what do I do? I put my hand up and step out. What were their next words? "Put the hammer down!" Ok, I probably should have done that earlier, but at least they didn't shoot me.
At this point I'm thinking, how could they be mistaking me for the guy they chased into my yard? And where IS the guy they're looking for? It turns out I was the guy they were looking for. Apparently, I neighbor had seen the flashlight in the house and called 911 thinking their was a burglar. Now, I'm all for the Neighborhood Watch and what not, but seriously... I must have been walking around with the light downstairs within window view for maybe 10 seconds.
To confirm my story, the cop asks me if i have an ID. I glance down at the underwear that I'm wearing and then back at the cop. He adds, "well obviously not ON you." After going back inside - "Leave the hammer on the ground, I'll get it" - and producing my driver's license, the cops decide I'm ok and head out.
So there are your San Jose tax dollars at work. There were at least 6 officers on the scene plus a helicopter overhead. The officer's parting words? "If there had been a burglar, we would have gotten him."
Fast forward to last night, January 12. At about 10:30pm, just before Heather is getting into bed, we go in to peek on Carina as usual. As usual, she was curled up with her Bed Bunny sound asleep. After leaving Carina's room, Heather jumps into bed. We're pretty careful not to leave the cats in Carina's room (the door is closed), so I do my usual head count. I notice that Maya is sitting on the floor in our room, but I don't see Frida. Again, this is fairly normal, so I grab my flashlight and head down the stairs. I take the flashlight for two reasons; one is that it's dark and I don't like to turn a bunch of lights on, and the second is that a flashlight beam is a really easy way to spot a cat in the dark (the eyes reflect the light). Normally, I would go about 2/3 of the way down the steps and swing the flashlight across the downstairs, hitting their favorite sleeping places along the way. These would be, in order; the cat tower, the dining room chairs, the chair in the living room, and the back of the couch (which is all the way across the room from the stairs). Last night it was a quick trip because Frida was in the first spot - on the cat tower. I head back upstairs.
I brush my teeth, take out my contacts, and hop in bed. I start hearing a mechanical noise outside. Sometimes we can hear the trains if they're really loud, but this sounds closer and is continuing on longer than a train would. In the past, we've seen police helicopters flying around at night, so I start to wonder if that's what I'm hearing. I decide to get up and look, so I grab my flashlight (don't want to step on any baby toys) and head to the bedroom window. Looking outside, I don't see the helicopter but I do notice some people coming down the sidewalk with flashlights. When they come into view, they're right in front of our house, their guns are drawn and they're shining their lights into our front yard and looking around. The first thing that comes to my mind is the story mentioned above followed by all sorts of other things like "did I lock the doors?" I tell Heather to get up and go down to Carina's room. Glancing around I notice that my hammer is on the floor in the bedroom (another story) so I pick it up. Yeah, it's kinda cliche, but hey, I wasn't going downstairs empty handed! I make my way down the stairs with my flashlight, turning on lights as I go. Once I'm satisfied that no one is in the house, I go to the front door and crack it open. I'm greeting with "Come out with your hands up!" Yeah, seriously. So what do I do? I put my hand up and step out. What were their next words? "Put the hammer down!" Ok, I probably should have done that earlier, but at least they didn't shoot me.
At this point I'm thinking, how could they be mistaking me for the guy they chased into my yard? And where IS the guy they're looking for? It turns out I was the guy they were looking for. Apparently, I neighbor had seen the flashlight in the house and called 911 thinking their was a burglar. Now, I'm all for the Neighborhood Watch and what not, but seriously... I must have been walking around with the light downstairs within window view for maybe 10 seconds.
To confirm my story, the cop asks me if i have an ID. I glance down at the underwear that I'm wearing and then back at the cop. He adds, "well obviously not ON you." After going back inside - "Leave the hammer on the ground, I'll get it" - and producing my driver's license, the cops decide I'm ok and head out.
So there are your San Jose tax dollars at work. There were at least 6 officers on the scene plus a helicopter overhead. The officer's parting words? "If there had been a burglar, we would have gotten him."
posted by dave at 6:54 PM
3 Comments:
What really sucked was that after the cops left I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe it wasn't Dave our neighbor saw and that someone really was in our house. I made Dave get back up and re-check the whole house. We didn't find anything, but I still didn't sleep very well! :-(
Holy cow!!! Scary.
On another note, Dave should write books. I was completely engaged through the whole story.
How scary! I don't think I would have been able to sleep either! I can't believe they called out the helocopter for a home invasion though. must have been a slow night.
Nicole
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