Some hoodlum just broke into my car outside of my apartment. I was lying on the couch at around midnight, dozing off to sleep when I heard the annoying car alarm on my '99 Toyota 4Runner. It startled me, so I woke up and looked out the window to see my lights flashing and hear my horn honking. I immediately went to the closet to grab my handgun, but decided at the last minute to just to leave it there.
I ran outside and noticed a scrawny teenager in baggy clothes and a sideways baseball cap walking toward me. From the building across the way, a resident yelled at me, "That's the kid that was trying to break in your car. Stop him!" I told him to stand still (which he didn't) and that I was going to detain him and call the police. Apparently, he didn't like that very much, so I tried to grab him and take him down, but the little would-be thief ran away. I'm a little scraped up from asphalt during the scuffle, but thankfully no one was hurt.
My car has a back window that can be rolled down by inserting the key into the slot on the rear hatch and turning. When I inspected my car after the incident, the back window was rolled down (which I didn't do) and the rear right door was unlocked and opened (unlocking a door from the inside when the car is locked with the key fob causes the alarm to sound). They must know some sort of trick to get the back window down. Luckily, I think the car alarm scared the two kids away, so they didn't have time to grab my golf clubs or my iPod from the front dash.
The police came and, instead of looking for the suspects while they were probably in the immediate area, they interviewed the eye witness and me. Ho-hum, big surprise, the police are still ineffective. They probably won't catch the kid and that won't surprise me. It was clear that my car alarm and an observant neighbor were probably the reasons they didn't get away with my stuff.
Here are some observations and lessons learned:
1) I'm glad I'm moving to Chicago and getting out of this area (I picked the wrong apartment complex to live at in Ann Arbor).
2) I should have grabbed my gun. Clearly, this person could have been armed as well and our confrontation could have spelled a nasty ending for me. I was lucky it was just some punk kid, but I could have just as easily gone out to check on my vehicle and gotten shot in the face. Honestly, it was the fear of going outside with my gun and getting charged with brandishing or some other bogus charge that made me think twice about it. Never again will I hesitate.
3) Nothing can replace individual responsibility for protection of life and property. Also, nothing can replace nosy neighbors as crime deterrents.
