Did I do the right thing?

[Moonpie]

Just bouncing this off the members to see opinions.

I have an across-the-street neighbor who "owned" a small white economy car(Dodge Neon).
I'm not close to the guy but I had noticed the white car no longer in his driveway for some time.

Yesterday morning I got off night shift at 6am. I drove home. It was still dark.
When I pulled up in my driveway I noticed the little white car parked in front of his house on the curb.
I also noticed a man who was NOT my neighbor going thru the car!
As I got out of my truck, looked at the guy HARD. He saw me looking at him. Definitely NOT my neighbor!
I did a dumb thing I think. I got mad.
I stepped into the street and said to the guy in no uncertain terms "Hey Bud, you got any business in that car?"
He told me "Its okay. My brother in-law gave me this car."
I asked(sternly)"What is your brother in-laws name?"
He replied with my neighbors name.
When he said this I calmed down and told him that it was okay. I just didn't know who he was and was concerned.
He was cool about it.


Reflecting on this, I beleive I did several things incorrectly.
1.) I was unarmed. I couldn't help this. I can not carry to/at/from my job.
2.) I acted too quickly. I got mad and stepped up on this unknown person.
3.) and most unsettling for me - I alerted the unknown person to where I live. If this had been a goblin he may have been cool but knows where to get some payback now. In my defense I didn't actually notice the guy going thru the car until I had pulled into my driveway and stepped out of my truck. So it was too late to stop him from knowing.
4.) I didn't call the police. I didn't think it was needed after I found out who the guy was.

What would you have done?

[AEA]

I think you did OK......except for two things........

Work on your temper.....emotions should not play any part in your actions (don't "get Mad", just keep cool and know your every move before you make it).

NEVER (in this day and age) confront anyone when you are unarmed.

[bpet]

911...It's your friend, it's cost nothing, it's risk free, and it's encouraged.

[locknload]

911...It's your friend, it's cost nothing, it's risk free, and it's encouraged.

I no longer confront anyone ... especially, when I am armed , which is most of the time, except asleep or at the hospital. No need to put myself in a fight, when 9-1-1 is available. Call 911, then, you can stand at your front window and watch all the action!

Seriously, finding out who the guy is belongs under the LEO's list of things to do. He has the training and equipment to defuse that kind of situation, we do not. I'm just thankful that we have folks like that to do our "battles" for us.

On the other hand, 9-1-1 isn't really free. We pay for it with a little noticed "tax" on our phone bills, whether we ever use it or not. Just another one of my pet peeves! Thank you Al Gore ... who, by the way, invented the internet, also! Ha!

[dukalmighty]

I would have called 911 to check it out while i continued to monitor after going in my house and arming,If he's in a big hurry and trashing the car he's probably a BG and i will make a great witness,BTW I know all my immediate neghbours and we watch out for each other.

[KBCraig]

Ditto on 911, even after you had talked to him.

Not that car burglars are noted for their intellect and level-headedness, but he could have known the owner's name from papers in the glove box, mail in the seat, etc., etc.

[WildBill]

Reflecting on this, I beleive I did several things incorrectly. What else would you have done?

Learn from from our mistakes. It sounds like you've already done that.

[frankie_the_yankee]

I think you did OK. Just being neighborly. I try to look out for my neighbors, and I hope they return the favor if needed.

[Moonpie]

A little follow up.

Went over and talked to the neighbor later. Sure enough the guy was his bro-n-law.
I apparently made quite an impression on the guy!
Neighbor says I scared him pretty good. LOL

[Rex B]

About 10 years ago I was living in a different neighborhood. We slept upstairs in the front bedroom with the window open. One night the wife wakes me with a "What was that?" Looked out the window and two guys were jimmying the door lock on a neighbor's truck a few doors down. then we heard the window pop. While the wife called 911, I put on my robe, walked out on my front porch, and whistled. As it was dead quiet, they looked around, saw me on the porch , and headed for their car, which happened to be parked directly across from me. Luckily, they left quickly.
I've since thought this over many times. Back then I wasn't carrying, and didn't even keep a loaded gun handy. It could have gone badly if they had been armed and had approached me.

[ELB]

Yup, I think you got most of the lessons covered yourself, and someone else pointed out that knowing the right name was not 100% verification.

With that, a story on the lighter side:

Many moons ago, two young Air Force lieutenants shared an apartment, one of them being me. At the base, an older civilian, we'll call him Eddie, asked me to babysit his house for a couple weeks while the Eddie went to Padre Island on a vacation. As the house was very nice and big, had a large pool in a hot climate, and the owner told me to go ahead and have a party while he was gone, I was delighted to babysit. All I had to do was live there, feed the dogs, and try to keep the pool from turning green. I did in fact throw a big party, was very popular with my friends, fed the dogs, kept the pool nice and clear, and even avoided trashing the house .

After the Eddie returned to work, he apologized to me for his neighbor being so nosy and intrusive in semi-rousting me on the first or second evening I was in the house. Except I had no idea what Eddie was talking about. Eddie said his neighbor told him the neighbor spotted a young man pull into the driveway late one evening, charged over there, identified himself as the neighbor assigned to keep an eye on the house, and demanded to see an ID. The neighbor said the young man was very polite and produced an military ID with the grade of second lieutenant on it. This matched what the neighbor was expecting, so neighbor went back to his house thinking he had talked to me, and Eddie assumed that was the case also, until he talked to me.

Except of course, the "rousted" lieutenant was my room-mate, who had just come over for a visit (I wasn't home at that moment). The neighbor rousted the wrong guy and never knew it. Room-mate never mentioned it to me until I asked about it two weeks later.

I had fun being a second lieutenant.

[nitrogen]

I'll be the black sheep and say you did fine.

If more of us looked out for each other like this, we'd be better off. There's nothing wrong with sitting back and calling 911, but by confronting someone, you could be asking for trouble.

But i'm glad you did it, and I bet your neighbor is, too.

[Rokyudai]

A little follow up.

Went over and talked to the neighbor later. Sure enough the guy was his bro-n-law.
I apparently made quite an impression on the guy!
Neighbor says I scared him pretty good. LOL

That's funny. Hopefully everyone can have a laugh over it without any hard feelings. Lessons learned.

[DoubleJ]

I had fun being a second lieutenant.

Butter Bar!!

[BrassMonkey]

I'll be the black sheep and say you did fine.

If more of us looked out for each other like this, we'd be better off. There's nothing wrong with sitting back and calling 911, but by confronting someone, you could be asking for trouble.

But i'm glad you did it, and I bet your neighbor is, too.