Caught red handed

Late afternoon yesterday I left the house with Harrison to go and pick up my weekly produce box and stop by the grocery store for a couple of things. We were gone about an hour and when I pulled into the driveway, I noticed the garage was closed which is unusual since the boys are constantly in and out with their bikes. I had no sooner opened the garage door and pulled in when both Haley and Holden ran out to the car. Before I could even get one foot out of the door, they both exploded into an animated story about what had happened while I was gone. I was able to decipher bits and pieces of the story from them but didn't get the whole rundown until I came inside and talked to David.

Apparently shortly after I left, Haley was upstairs talking to David in his office which overlooks our side yard. She was standing in the window and looked down to see a strange boy walking between our house and the neighbors. She told David and I guess his private investigator genes kicked in because he immediately ran outside to see the boy walking quickly down the street. David followed him and kept shouting "Hey" but the boy ignored him and kept walking. When David caught up with him, he asked the boy what he was doing in our yard to which the boy replied "cooling off". The boy had a beer in his hand so David asked him where he got it and the boy said at his house. When David asked him where he lived, the boy motioned to the other side of the neighborhood and told him over there. The frost on the can was a clear indicator that the beer hadn't been out in the heat for long so David asked the boy to take him to his house so he could see if indeed the beer had come from there. At this point the boy doubled over. David's first thought was that he was panicking and getting sick but a second later two more beers fell out of his pants and he had apparently tried to stop them from falling out. The beers were the same kind that we have in our garage refrigerator. At this point, the boy started running and David grabbed him around the neck in the choke hold and made him go back to our house. The kid was as tall as David and almost as big so I am sure it was pure adrenaline carrying David at this point.

During the walk back, the boy begged him not to call the police saying he was sixteen and had never been in trouble with the law before. He promised to mow our lawn for a year for free if David didn't call. His begging didn't work and David called the police with the cellphone he takes everywhere apparently including those occasions when he chases criminals down the street.

Once they got back to the house, David held him on our front porch while waiting for the police to come. David told him he was a stupid thief to steal during the middle of the day and to try to get away from a runner. The boy kept saying not to yell at him and David told him the least of his problems was going to be getting yelled at.

Meanwhile the kids (and a friend) were inside peeking out through the window watching this unfold. Within minutes, three police cars came barreling down the street with sirens on. They jumped out of the car with their hands on their guns kind of like in one of those police shows.

Long story but the boy did get arrested and it turns out that he was not sixteen but eighteen and had been arrested before for breaking and entering when he was seventeen and was participating in an intervention program. He had enlisted with the Marines not long ago and was suppose to report for boot camp as soon as he finished the program. Unfortunately for him, two beers cost him the possibility of a good military career.

The police said that the boy would be charged with burglary and that David would have to appear in court. If given the opportunity to speak, David will let the court know that it wasn't the fact that he stole the the beer as much as it was that this kid came into our garage and if one of our kids had come out of the house at that time it would have scared them or worse.

As the police were leaving a couple of the neighbors came by and said they had seen the boy walking around and one had even chased the boy before when he caught him trying to get into his car.

I suppose it was a good thing that I wasn't here because I would probably have asked David to let him go or take him to his parents. It isn't that I am such a bad judge of character as much as it is that I am a mom and my thought would have been that it was someones son sitting out there blubbering and scared to death. My mommy instinct would have been to let his parents deal with him.

In the end, I think David did the right thing by calling the police. This kid apparently had not learned his lesson after the first arrest. Maybe now that he is charged with burglary and faces jail, he will get his act together. Maybe he still stands a chance to be a productive member of society rather than a lifelong burden on taxpayers. Maybe two beers will have helped him turn his life around.