It started around 2:30, when we heard a helicopter overhead. Now, this in and of itself is not unusual. There are several local buildings with helipads, so having one come quite close is nothing to worry about. Having two that seem to be circling *my* house is definitely odd, though. I thought maybe there was a big accident on a major highway that is less than a mile from the house. Then news and traffic helicopters would be circling close by, right?
But I'm curious, I want to see where they are in relation to the house, so I go to the front of the house to see if I can spot them out of the window at the top of our two-story foyer. No, I can't see anything out of the top window, but I do see three police cars go *flying* by my house! We live about a quarter mile from the city police department, so seeing cop cars on this road is not unusual at all, but not going 60 mph! They had to be doing at least that down our 25-mph sleepy little neighborhood road. No way they stopped at the stop sign just three houses away. Not two minutes later, two different cars (others were city police, these were county) go whizzing by in the other direction. Helicopters are still circling. What on earth is going on?!! Nothing on the radio, nothing on the television. Guess it's not big enough for "breaking news." So DH and I go about our business and try to ignore all the noise.
A few minutes later, DH calls me over to look at something on his computer. Just as I get there (helicopters still circling!), DH lets out an explitive, which is extremely unusual for him. I glance up, and I see what he sees: a man neither of us has ever seen crossing our next door neighbor's back yard. He hops the fence, crosses the back yard of the house directly behind ours, and cuts between that house and the one next to it, and disappears. On any given day, this would have been unusual and even suspicious, but we would not have taken action since he technically did nothing wrong (besides trespassing). He wasn't looking at the houses or fiddling with doors or windows; he could have just been taking a (very odd) shortcut. But with all of the police activity around? We were having none of that. DH called 911.
We reported what we had seen: black male, young, athletic build, oversized black t-shirt, light pants (khaki maybe), spikey twisted hair, crossing our neighbors' yards. She assured us someone would be right there. It was about 2:45. We go to the front door, knowing full and well we are literally just around the corner from the station, expecting someone to drive up in mere moments. As I look out, I see three men standing across the street. One is a plain clothes cop (could see his badge on his belt (and his gun)), one is a uniformed cop, and one is in all black. I open the door to stick my head out, thinking I might ask them what is going on and did they want to hear about the guy in my back yard? About the time I step out on the porch, I realize that the guy in all black is also wearing handcuffs! Oops. I step back inside, deadbolt the door, and figure whoever is on the way to the house can just knock like everyone else.
I do watch out the window for a bit longer, though, and I see an unusual looking county police car drive by at a semi-normal speed. I then watch as the two cops flag down a city police car and stuff the perp in the back. We can still hear the helicopters, but I don't see any other cop cars for several minutes, so I go fiddle around on the computer. Around 3:00, the phone rings again. It is the police dispatch operator, asking us to please confirm our address. Apparently, the cop looking for our house can't find it! (Comforting, no?) The houses are not numbered consecutively down the entire length of the street. A few (like ours) are slightly out of order. We always have to take calls from lost delivery people, but I just assumed the police would know that, given that the station is also on this same road.
Anyway, just as we finish talking with dispatch, there is a knock at the door. Ah, a police officer, come to see us at last. Funny, he's driving that same funny looking car that I had seen go by earlier. Turns out, it is one of the county canine units. And the cop standing at our door is dressed like a SWAT team member! This dude was seriously serious. He asked what we had seen, which way he had gone, and if we could provide any other details. He did confirm that is the person that everyone was looking for, but that was about it. I didn't ask why they were looking for him, though. I figured that definitely fell under the category of "if you aren't absolutely certain you want to know the answer, don't ask the question." If he was a mass murderer or something, that would only make me even more uncomfortable, so I'll just assume he was breaking into houses or something (still illegal, but not necessarily dangerous) and go on with my life. If I hear otherwise on the news, at least he'll be long gone by then.
We closed the door, locked it, and went about our business. Just a couple of minutes later, we heard the crunching of leaves outside one of our windows. We peaked out, and the same cop who had come to our door was back there with his dog and a second officer. His car was even still parked in our driveway. Everyone jumped the fence, and that's the last we saw of them. Helicopters continued circling for a good 30 minutes after he came to the door, then stopped. We checked to see if the car was still in the driveway every 10 minutes or so; it vanished sometime between 3:50 and 4 PM.
So that's it, our grand adventure of the day. We still have no idea who the guys were, what they did, or if the guy we saw was ever caught. I thought I might be nervous about being home and not knowing, but I'm really not. It remains to be seen if I will still feel that way come Monday when I am home alone! LOL
Currently feeling:
like a crime-fighter
Wow, that's the kind of adventure you don't really need! Glad everyone is okay.
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