Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come For You

January 11, 2013 at 2:45-ish am:  Reed and I were sound asleep in our bedroom.  When there arose such a clatter!  We jolted awake at the same time to a loud banging noise. It was so loud and managed to shake the walls of the house just a smidge that we knew it was something going on downstairs.  Reed grabbed his gun and flashlight and went downstairs while I peeked out the curtain and saw a man running away from our house.  !!!!!!!!  He was carrying a big square plastic bag that's very similar to the type of container that you get a new bedset or comforter quilt in.  He ran across the street and proceeded to walk up the hill and disappeared.  Tom, our next door neighbor, called the police as it was happening and he was watching the bad guy from next door.  Almost immediately the police came because they were in the parking lot two blocks up the street!  Reed was in full-on Vegas mode where he was striding determined-ly through our yard while holding his loaded pistol.  He made sure the property was clear and then Tom told him the bad guy had left.

Broken window and detached window frame

2:51am:  Right then the cops showed up and Reed identified himself and the weapon he was holding.  The lady cop asked him to put the gun on the ground which he did.  Then she got the description of the bad guy and another cop in an SUV came zipping up the hill.  She quickly shouted the details to him and he zipped off in hot pursuit.  The cop came in to our house to get Reed's information and that's when I mentioned that I had seen the perpetrator as well.  She says "better put a jacket on because you get to go on a quick drive with me".

3:10am:  So then we all hopped in the police car (my first ever time in one) and we sat in the backseat which was gross.  It was all hard plastic and very uncomfortable.  I thought about the icky things that criminals had done in there and my poor germophobic self cringed a little.  But then those thoughts were overtaken by the song "Bad Boys Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do" and that entertained me through the short drive.  She drove us by where the cop had nabbed the bad dude and they had him look at the car while we drove by slowly.  It was definitely him and he creeper stared at us.  It was super creepy and I was uncomfortable with that.  The cop drove us back and told us to go inside and wait for her back-up to come to get our written statements.  Then she went off to arrest the guy.

Broken glass on the front porch

3:20am:  Officer Kelly (yet another female police officer on patrol at night) came in and told us what to do so we wrote out our statements.  I felt bad because I had left the room cluttered and I apologized.  She smirked and said that it was one of the cleaner places she'd ever been in on the job.  Yay!  haha It doesn't take much to impress a cop as far as cleanliness goes. ;-)  After we were done with that she went to go get our neighbors statement.  I had a hard time going to sleep after that just because I'd been awake for like two hours.

We are huge fans of O.P.D.

    I learned from that situation that I should call 911 immediately upon any suspicion of bad things going on....I remember thinking to myself "oh, everything's fine...Reed's got this!" and yes, Reed did have it in control but it's better to have the police along too.  We are working on smoothing out the details of our emergency/disaster response system so that it runs faster and is simpler.  I am one lucky girl to have a husband who protects me and those around us.  He is extremely competent at staying calm and focused in a situation.  He maintains control and composure which is a rare thing in an incident.   Not to toot my own horn but Reed said that he was happy with how I didn't freak out or panic.  A few wife points to me!  And many many points to Olympia Police Department for their quick response time, ability to catch the guy, coolheaded-ness when discovering Reed had a gun, and respectful/professional attitudes.  We were very blessed during this situation!