neighbor called and asked to check front door

[Kirk]

Yesterday (Thursday) when I got home a saw a old brown Ford F150 parked halfway into the road in front of my neighbor’s house. I backed my truck into the driveway and when I got out my neighbor was calling. He said when his daughter friend just drove up to his house, got out, walked up to the front door. The truck had drove into the Cul-de-sac slowly and stop when seeing her. She got into the house quickly but he followed up her to the front door which scared both girls. He started ringing the door bell and knocking on the door.

My neighbor told his daughter to call the police and to not answer the door. This is when he call me and ask to check the house to see what was going on. I had my XD with me so I started walking up to the front of his from the side when the gentleman turned, walk to his truck and left. I kept an eye on the house till her dad got home then walked over to talk to him about it.

30 minutes after the 911 call a Harris county deputy show up. I stand there while my neighbor and his daughter explain what happen. Dad is upset because he feels the person was a stalker seeing a lone 18 yr/old going into a house by herself and tells this to the deputy who say no it wasn’t a stalker because they don’t go after 2 girls at the same time. Dad re-explains that the person only saw a single girl and still get told not to worry. Only concern would be if he walked to the back of the house. He was probably looking for a lawn service job. (No mowers or any lawn equipment in the back of the truck.)

Not to drag this out, here are the key points we were told.

1. Call 911 first before dad
2. In our area there is a patrol car just a few minutes down the road from our home. (So why did it take 30 minutes to show up?)
3. Neighbors should be a witness and not come over and confront someone because they might have a gun.
4. There is a patrol car just a couple minutes away (This was repeated several times)
5. The deputy could not advise anything due to legal issues.
6. Nothing would be done.

Over all the Deputy seem a little bothered, I would like to believe that it was because he was sick earlier in the week.

My mistake, I did not write down or take a quick picture of the truck’s license plate.

[speedsix]

...I'm glad you showed up and glad that you're willing to make your presence known in a right way to discourage a stranger from getting himself in a world of hurt...you acted carefully and within the law...prepared for the worst and not provoking anything unneccessary...

...as for the deputy's "instructions"...different LEOS have different opinions...most express them freely...it's been my life experience that often the LEO shows up too late to stop anything, sometimes through no fault of his own...a lot can happen in 4 (or 30) minutes...even the professionals have changed the way they handle things and realize waiting sometimes isn't the smartest thing...you did a good job in this case...love to have more neighbors like you...the girl(s) were safe whether the guy was cruisin' for trouble or just low on common sense...

[thatguy]

I feel that your actions were well played. You did not get in a hurry, waited for the police and let them do their job and did not run around telling everyone "its ok, I have a gun!"

Overall, very smooth.

[PUCKER]

You did good!

I was out smoking a cigar on my patio the other night, after midnight, just Samson the Great Dane and I. He alerts (ears up and head pointed in direction of interest, no bark) to some metallic/clicking noises going on across the street. I walk to the front gate and see what appears to be a teenage male kneeling down on the sidewalk in front of my neighbor's house and clicking something (almost sounded like a zippo lighter?). He does this for a minute, I walk outside of my gate and observe, I am now in my front yard. Hey, the kid is on sidewalk, cannot figure out what he is doing but he's on the sidewalk. He'll move on. Nope.

Kid stands up and goes over to the corner of my neighbors house, next to the bushes and the backyard fence. It's after midnight, I do not recognize the kid/teenager and he is now kneeled down and making the same clicking noise. I cannot ascertain WHAT he is doing but he has NO BUSINESS being there DOING IT. I now walk into the middle of the street and ask him what his business is. He mumbles something, I say "Say again?!?" Still incoherent mumbling, I ask him to state his business at my neighbor's house at that time of night/morning....he says something about "I'm not in there I'm out here" (maybe referencing that he is not inside their fence but in their yard). I tell him he has no business to be there and to get his backside out of their immediately. He backtalks for a second then proceeds to move on. I note his attire, direction of travel, etc. I call 911 and relay info/events to him. Within minutes there are two patrol cars scanning the neighborhood. I chat with one of the officers and he asks if it is _____ (neighborhood troublemakers, one of which has stumps for legs). I respond that it is not, saying that I do sort of pity the kid with stumps. Cop says "Don't feel sorry for them, they are criminals." Cop thanked me for calling and said "We need more people like you to take action, we do not know what is happening unless people like you tell us, etc...."

Cops did not find the teenager, most likely he lives a street or two over and ducked into his house. Cop and I looked where the kid was kneeling down, did not see any evidence of mischief, etc. I had thoughts of grabbing the kid by the collar and hauling him to the door and waking the neighbor and letting him have the chat (neighbor liked this idea when I discussed afterwards), but I thought it best/most prudent not to. I chatted with the neighbor after work and he thanked me for keeping an eye on things, we discussed guns, etc (he has a large library safe that is about maxed out!). He said he did not know the kid.

With each situation you have to gage what is most prudent for *you* to do. Some people may not feel like getting involved, but when it comes to friends, family, neighbors, I do.

[johnson0317]

I dunno. Sounds like you handled it pretty well the way you did it. If you had laid hands on the kid, it might have turned out very differently. The ability of a young kid to throw a punch in the blink of an eye might surprise you sometimes. Once you are down, the kid owns the rest of the story. Keep that distance, if you can. Gives you time to respond as needed.

RJ

[thatguy]

I dunno. Sounds like you handled it pretty well the way you did it. If you had laid hands on the kid, it might have turned out very differently. The ability of a young kid to throw a punch in the blink of an eye might surprise you sometimes. Once you are down, the kid owns the rest of the story. Keep that distance, if you can. Gives you time to respond as needed.

RJ

[PappaGun]

..30 minutes after the 911 call a Harris county deputy show up...

What's that saying about about "when seconds matter..."

[Kirk]

I dunno. Sounds like you handled it pretty well the way you did it. If you had laid hands on the kid, it might have turned out very differently. The ability of a young kid to throw a punch in the blink of an eye might surprise you sometimes. Once you are down, the kid owns the rest of the story. Keep that distance, if you can. Gives you time to respond as needed.

I agree with you but this was an adult that got out of the pickup truck which is why I was more concerned. Coming up from the side gave him a path out so he didn't feel trapped in the doorway and could freely leave.

His knock on the door was strange also. Although the LEO said he was probably trying to get yard work I don't think you would knock on a door (shave and a haircut 2 bits).

Thanks for all the comments

[johnson0317]

Kirk,

I was responding to the comment made by Pucker.

RJ

[n5wd]

5. The deputy could not advise anything due to legal issues.

That's about all the deputy said that makes sense. Used to be neighbors looked out after other neighbors without a second thought. Glad you were there!