Ironically, Jim and I watched several episodes of COPS last night before going to bed early...
So, I slept hard until about 5:00 a.m., then woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Finally, at about 5:45 a.m., I gave up, and went into the bathroom because, at the very least, it gave me something to do!
We live on a corner, and our nearest neighbor who lives "next door", but around the corner from us has property that stretches from the side of their house, and ends at our back border. What this means is that from our corner there is a quite a distance from there to that neighbor's house because the sidewalk runs from the corner, past our front yard, side, and back, and all the way past our neighbor's side yard which is the bulk of their property. At night, this is a dark area because there aren't any street lights, and behind our back, and our neighbor's side is about four acres of land belonging to some nuns. None of that is lit either, and is where we frequently see deer and foxes, and hear the foxes barking at night.
Directly across the street from the corner is one neighbor, and next to them (directly across the street from the dark patch) is another neighbor. This neighbor has a married daughter with a little baby who comes to visit frequently (they live in Baltimore), and they always park along the portion of the sidewalk that's so dark at night, across the street from their parents' house, and in between ours and our "next door neighbor" down the way.
If you look at the + , Jim and I live on the top right, at the corner where the lines cross. Our house faces the right line, and the incident I'm going to describe takes place on the top line which is at the side of our house.
Are you with me so far?
So I'm in the bathroom, which is at the back of the house, and glance out the window because I have nothing else to do, and can't sleep. I noticed a car parked in the dark area (with its exterior lights on), where Anna Maria and her husband normally park. I wondered if they were here for a visit, but also thought that 5:45 a.m., was an odd time for them to be in the car. We have a huge Catholic church around the corner, and I thought that maybe they were headed for an early service, but I also noticed that their parents' house was completely dark, so the family clearly wasn't up, and getting ready to go to mass. And anyway, from what I could see in the dark, it didn't look like the car that Anna Maria and her husband have. Theirs is an SUV, and this was a sedan. Hmmm...
Of course, if the car hadn't had its lights on in the first place, it never would have caught my attention.
My second thought was that it could be the person who drives around the neighborhood, delivering newspapers. Maybe that person was taking a brief break, or organizing the next batch of papers, or making a phone call home. Then I realized that the papers are delivered much earlier, and that I'd heard the ka-thunk longer ago than would have made it logical for the newspaper car to be parked around our corner. Hmmm...
I began to become more interested. Was someone having car problems? Did they need help? No one seemed to be assisting them with anything, but they weren't moving either. Their lights were still on, and although I had no idea how long they'd been there, by now it had been several minutes since I'd been watching, and it was really somewhat strange. I noticed then that the car seemed to be rocking back and forth a little bit. Was someone turning our dark little portion of the street into a lover's lane, and having some vigorous sex in there? If so, was it voluntary? Hmmm...
I left the bathroom window, and walked down the hall into A-D's bedroom where there's a double window that would give me better viewing proximity. That's when Jim woke up and asked me if everything was okay. I told him that I was puzzled over a mysterious car, and asked him to come look. So, Jim crawled out of bed, and joined me at A-D's window. He thought it was suspicious too, and I asked him if he thought I ought to call the police to investigate whether someone needed help, or if someone was doing something that they ought not to be doing. Especially when it was essentially happening in our own backyard!! Jim told me to go for it...
I called the Fairfax County non-emergency number, and asked that they please send a patrol car over, just to investigate because it was still dark, and I couldn't tell whether or not anyone needed assistance (and we sure as hell weren't going to approach some strange car in the dark, to ask if everything was okay), or whether this car and its occupant(s) even belonged in the neighborhood. We have a Neighborhood Watch, and believe me, I was watching now! LOL...
The dispatcher said, "absolutely!", and promised that a car would be right over. Jim and I returned to the window.
In under five minutes, FIVE police cars swooped in from behind the parked car which was now completely trapped because this particular street leads to a double cul-de-sac, with no other exit. God, I love our Fairfax County police! They're the best -- the absolute best. By the way, I haven't seen this many police cars in our area since 1991, and they were at OUR HOUSE that time too! We'd had a break-in, and SIX police cars arrived, complete with canine unit. That's why we have an alarm system now. But, I digress...
One patrol car pulled up along the driver's side of the parked car, and four units pulled in behind it. That portion of the street was now completely filled with police cars and lights (no sirens). About six officers approached the car with flashlights, and virtually surrounded it. There was some conversation (and apparent reluctance by any of the car's occupants to emerge), but finally four young males were ordered out of the car. They were each given a quick pat-down, and were made to sit on the curb. (OUR curb!) Spotlights on the top of the patrol cars were turned to illuminate the now-seated individuals so that they couldn't do anything stupid. At this point, there was a lot of activity, and Jim and I were glued to the window! If only we'd had a bowl of popcorn... The officers proceeded to meticulously search the vehicle (put gloves on), and take ID information. They opened the trunk, and emptied its contents onto the street. There was a box, but we couldn't see what it was, nor any other details of what was being pulled out of the trunk.
Then things became really exciting. One of the four occupants was told to stand up again for another pat-down. The police officer was in the process of doing that when the guy decided bolt. He didn't get very far! Within the blink of an eye, two more police officers were all over the idiot, and the three officers very efficiently placed him face down on the ground, and cuffed him! The other three occupants didn't so much as twitch as this was going on, but sat quite still where they were on the sidewalk, as several other officers guarded them.
The now-cuffed idiot was left to lie face down on the cold October ground while the officers returned to their task of searching the car. Jim and I began to sing, "whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do..."
Eventually, the cuffed guy was placed inside a police car, and left to sit in there for a while too. One officer took pictures of the car, and then ordered each of the other three to stand, one at a time, while they were photographed.
About this time, my phone rang. It was one of the officers who wanted to let me know what was going on. It turns out that these were four underage kids who were drinking, and smoking pot.
MY FIRST DRUG BUST!!
And the box that was taken out of the trunk, and which was confiscated by the police, was a box of Heineken beer!
The officer asked for my address, and I explained that I lived in the house right next to where they were all parked, and that my husband and I were watching the whole thing from our window. He started to laugh! I told him that we'd seen the big take-down, and he asked me to described exactly what had happened for his records since he was still searching the car when it happened, and the guy was cuffed.
Finally, the one police car left with the guy in back, off to be arrested. The other three, who apparently live nearby, were told to walk home! LOL... The car (which turns out to be an Acura) was locked, and is still parked in the same spot. I guess someone's parents are going to have to come get it.
Jim went out there a little while ago to take some of his own pictures. There's a Northern Virginia Community College sticker on it, beer bottles in the grass by the sidewalk, and a lanyard with a bunch of keys next to them. They probably belong to the idiot who tried to pull off the escape, and were left unnoticed in the dark. Woops! I know that the car keys were given to one of the officers before the last kid began his walk home, so I don't know if one of the keys on the lanyard belongs to the car too (probably not), but wouldn't it be funny if someone saw the keys, and decided to steal the cute little Acura?
And that's the description of my morning so far! Later today, I'm going to a friend's open house. She's an artist, and is on an open house tour of artists in Great Falls.
Here's a picture of the parked car that Jim took a little while ago.
LOL. what dumb kids!! If they wanted to have a drinking, pot party, they could have at least gone somewhere else, NOT in a residential neighbourhood, and for sure not on Moore's street, LOL. Dumb kids. I have a feeling that's the last time they try a stunt like that around you, Moore. Drug bust, lol. Too funny.
Moore, what a way to begin a Sunday morning!! Good fodder for neighbourhood chit chat, though, lol.
I decided today to undertake the task of cleaning Jackson's room out. Oy, it's a task, thats for sure. I've already taken one large garbage back of broken toys out, and closed the door to the room while I sit and watch the race. I'll get back to it later. Hehe.
KaeEll, where's your post? I tried replying yesterday, but finally gave up when I couldn't get this site to work, and then AOL decided to keep kicking me offline! I decided to shut the darned computer, and go to my friend's open house where I stayed far longer than I'd planned to. When I got home, the computer still wouldn't cooperate with me, but seems to be behaving this morning. Who knows what gremlins were in there yesterday?!
Anyway, your story DEFINITELY topped mine, and gave me such good laugh. That was just crazy!
I watched to see who might come retrieve the car, but they got it during the ten minute period when I wasn't at that window, so I didn't see, darn it! It could have been the kid, or a parent, or both together, but anyway the car is gone. However, I have a souvenir from the whole episode because they apparently didn't take the time to walk around the car, so they left the lanyard. I'm pretty sure that it belongs to the person who was arrested. It has a very nice Marine Corp keychain attached to it, and another keychain that's decorated with a horse's head. Jim informed me that it's actually a bottle opener, and when I took a closer look, I can see that he's right! LOL. I guess that would make sense... There's also a car key, and a house key. Looks like the poor little partier is going to have to replace it all. A big "oh...well..." to him from me!
I did have an early morning phone call yesterday from a neighbor (two houses down) who had been out walking her dog at quarter to seven, and saw the tail end of what was going on. She wanted details!
Later in the morning, I noticed that our neighbor whose side yard was the one I tried to describe, and the one whose fence is in the picture I posted, was out mowing by where the car had been. I sent Jim out to fill him in! I haven't had a chance to talk to anyone else yet, but the funniest part is that my other next-door-neighbor has a son (the youngest of six kids) who's a Fairfax County police officer. He's actually my son's best friend from childhood. However, Matt works out of McLean, and not out of our local station. When the police officer called me about what was going on, I mentioned Matt, and wondered if he was on duty. The officer said, "Oh, well, I can check on that for you!" He told me that Matt wasn't working at the time, so I guess he was asleep next door, and MISSED the commotion that was going on right under his nose!
I can't WAIT to tease him a bit about that...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
Moore, I deleted it late last night - couldn't sleep, again, sigh, because I felt that it might have looked like I was trying to "out-drug-bust" you, lol, and I felt awful about that. I hadn't thought about that chapter in my life for a LONG time. Life in Oakland, California in that era was all too dramatic for my tastes, lol. That's why we moved inland to Lafayette, and even though I worked in Alameda (after my green card came in), I stayed a good healthy distance from Oakland after that.
I was a real babe in the woods back then, never could even figure out that all those Fat Alberts clonking up the outside staircase in our apartment building in the middle of the night might have been a "clientele" of the lovely redhead I ate muffins with all the time, lol. Dumb, dumb, dumb. But the arms dealing and the gemstone smuggling, eeeeeee gad. Oh yeah, and TONS of illegal drugs as well, and none of that baby marijuana stuff - hard, nasty bad stuff. And, because I was the building super, I had to clean up the unit after the raid. THAT's something I will NEVER forget. Cops also searched our apartment that weekend of the raid. I'm sure they were bored to death that time, lol. They left a mess behind in there too, tossed everything out of drawers and closets. Gad. But I think the worst part of that ridiculous experience was that we left a young couple from Montana who had JUST moved in, in charge of the superintendent duties while we were away and they moved out of the building immediately afterwards, mortified and aghast, lol. They went right back to Montana.
It was one of the biggest busts in Oakland of the year. The FBI and local constabulary had been watching the building for months!
Oh KaeEll -- I got a real kick out of that story. Especially the helicopter part! I tried a half dozen times to reply, but couldn't get the stupid computer OR website to work. I'm sorry that you removed the post because it was a riot.
That poor couple from Montana! LOL...
__________________
"It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"
(Dumbledore to Harry Potter)
I think that at this point the only drug bust experience I have would have been when our high school had one. At the time the Phoenix PD put together an undercover operation. They actually had a police officer pose as a high school kid. I think they ended up busting like 25 people. A couple of them for acid. Scary stuff. This happened my senior year when I was the editor of the paper. The guy they had infiltrate the school got a job at the newspaper so I talked to him quite a bit. What a shock it was to learn that all was not as it seemed. So thats not so much a personal experience as it is a weird story to pass around. This particular sting I guess was only done at our school and another city school. The funny thing for us though is that right next to the school is this park that of course all the druggies would go to throughout the day to take care of their "needs". The stupid party about that is that there is also a police station just across the street. I was always amazed that they didn't have more like bicycle cops patrolling the park or something.
Moore, it was the website, I think. Last week it was all loopy and frustrating and I assume it continued for a while over the weekend. I wasn't having any trouble and I guessed that I may have ticked you off, and I would NEVER want to do that. No harm then? Good. :)
I watched AMC today!! I am so sorry that I missed the day the tornado hit but I got to see Babe die today. I haven't programmed it into record just yet as I thought I'd give it a go live when I could. I'm trying.... I lurked a little at SOC and saw the numbers of people on line there for AMC. Holy cow!! (I should probably post this in the AMC thread, but oh well, lol.)
Life is WEIRD around here with all my guys gone. Ted and Nick are somewhere near Regina, Sask, Tony's in Los Angeles, Mike's in WV and my parents are of no support whatever (nothing new there) so I'm really winging it solo, keeping myself busy pecking away at Nick's, ahem, bedroom that he left looking like a tornado swept through it. I'm polishing silver things I haven't touched in over a year, washing towels and tea cozies and generally taking my house back. Except of course, for the room that Mike has taken over and IT looks like a typical guy's room. My poor Chloe is sleeping on a folded comforter on the FLOOR. The blessed floor!! Mike left the bedroom door open there for a while yesterday and I caught Chloe looking in wistfully, turn around and curl up on her nest on the floor. I felt so terrible for her. I shall make it up to her once we get Mike on that flight to NZ in early November. I'll put the high thread count sheets on for her, wash the comforters and fluff her pillows. Poochies don't break a mother's heart the way that children do.
Which reminds me, Moore. What did the vet say about Lucy's allergy to her pain meds? Can they prescribe something different for her arthritis that doesn't make her so itchy?
Oh my wow .. lots of excitement already huh? I've only had one drug bust that I've witnessed. It was in my home town . small ittle place but of course small towns sometimes seem even worse than bigger ones.
THe house across from ours was a drug house .. we knew it told th cops a number of times still nothing seemed to ever happen .. well come to find out it was a meth house as well.... cops, feds, dea you name it showed up one day. Our small town cops never did anything because apparently the dea was building their case a the time . Crazy stuff as always lol.
