The Police Chase That Ends In Our Yard

All was going well... I was getting ready to go to bed, turning off lights, double checking the doors, etc... when off in the distance I hear police sirens. I have no idea what time is... sometime between midnight and 1:00am.

Not too unusual for a Friday evening.

What was unusual was that very soon thereafter I also hear squealing tires and the sirens are closer. Hmmmm... maybe there is a chase that might go down our street. I head toward the stairway to go upstairs when I notice out the window that there is a tree trying to hide underneath a black car sitting in my driveway, all cockeyed.

I don't own a black car.
I do own a tree, but it's not usually in my driveway, and it's most certainly not usually underneath a black car ... especially a black car that I don't own.

I rush upstairs (wishing I had a camera... and a phone) into the kids playroom where I am savagly attacked by the kids pink tent. I wrestle the tent to the ground and look out the window in time to see two people run through my front yard, around the side of the house and out of my view.

Since both my neighbors have fences the only place these people are going is my backyard. Hopefully they don't decide to pay a visit to the back door... just keep running to the meadow please. Lots of friendly rabbit (holes) for them to enjoy and maybe a few coyotes just for kicks.

A third person darted across the street toward the neighbors house.

Already two police cars have arrived. One follows the vigilantes into our yard while the other officer goes across the street.

Moments later, just as I'm calling 911, there is a loud BAM!
Gunshots?
No. Whew!

The sound of a police officer body slamming a criminal against my garage door: Priceless.

Tanya called the neighbors to warn them about the commotion and to make sure they lock their doors.

More officers arrive.

The K-9 unit arrives and we go from window to window watching as they head out into the meadow.

The 911 operator suggests that we stay in the house. She also suggested that we might want to make sure the doors are locked. After that I gave the phone to Tanya so she could provide the operator with some useful information while I herd the kids and animals into the back bedroom, away from the street. Just in case. Besides, that room has a TV.

Eventually, all three perps were aprehended, with the K-9 unit locating one at the south end of the meadow. I'm pretty sure it's never pleasant to be located by a K-9 unit, but THIS K-9 unit was so big it had to be at least a K-11 or K-12. That guy's going to need some aspirin.

The fire department shows up.
The medics show up.

With everyone in custody I grabbed the camera and tripod and started snapping pics.
This photo shows the proximity to my car:


This photo shows the skid marks on the right side of the screen where the vehicle came up the hill, left the road and tackled our tree:


Perp #1:


Questioning Perp #2:


Perp #2 waiting for an adult to show up:


Off to the Crime Lab (or more likely just the impound lot):


Tree still fits in the hole... but will it survive?


What happened that led to the chase and excitement?

Near as we can speculate is that the black car occupants failed to properly yeild, resulting in attracting the attention of the officers. Instead of pulling over, the chase ensued. Alcohol may have been a contributing factor and it also sounded like one or more of them have been in trouble with the law before. There's a shocker... NOT!

We are all glad the ordeal is over and it appears that I'm pretty lucky that my own car avoided harm.

Here is a daylight shot of the aftermath:


Upon awaking this morning, Alexia doesn't have any recollection of these events bit that's ok because I took plenty of pictures, much to Tanya's embarrassment.

We found out that at any point in time you can find out who has been booked into the county jail within the last 26 hours (no, I don't know why it's 26 hours). (Linky)

The driver is currently enjoying life in Pod E, with the following pending charges:
Reckless Endangerment (2 counts)
DUI
Attempting To Elude
Furnishing Liquor To A Minor
Hit & Run
Driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Sounds like a nice fellow.

Some of the other perps were minors and were released to their displeased parents.

~E