Merry Christmas, The Police Just Left My House

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Joe_Pike

New member
My adrenaline is pumping like crazy right now.

I had fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on and had been there less than an hour when I heard a window break, It was the door closest to me that leads to the carport. I woke up with my heart beating like crazy and grabbed a Keltec P32 and ran to the door in my skivvies to see what the heck was going on. I spotted a male out by my car wondering around. I immediately ran to the bedroom and threw on some clothes and grabbed my SA SD9 and a flashlight. I checked to see that no one was actively trying to get in the house and then grabbed the phone to call 911. I imagine that all of this took no more than 60-90 seconds.

Two officers arrived a couple of minutes later. I put my gun down on the couch and stepped outside to meet them only they were heading next door. I then see that they had a guy on the ground and were cuffing him. One officer came over and told me that the guy was extremely drunk.

As I looked around, I noticed that the guy had probably broke the window with his hand or arm or something since I couldn't find a rock. He had opened my electrical box, pushed my trash can several feet and tried to tear my mail box off of the house.

They arrested him for property damage since they couldn't prove he was trying to get into my house. That seemed pretty obvious to me, but apparently the law favors the criminal. Good thing for him he didn't get into the house because I was fully prepared to shoot.

I'm glad that I keep several guns around for stuff like this even though I don't want this type of thing to ever happen again as it scared the crap out of me. You never know how you will react, but I did just as I always thought that I should.

I Just need to vent a little so I could calm down some. Thanks for listening.
 
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TX_QtPi

New member
Glad you (and your family) are safe. At least the guy didn't claim he was an elf, lol merry christmas to you and to him he may have just gotten a new lease on life.
 
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R1145

New member
I'm glad you are safe. It sounds like you handled it well, using admirable discretion and judgement.
 
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LockedBreech

New member
A flawlessly executed self-defense scenario. You had situation awareness, obtained a weapon, kept a cool head, and had the will to execute your defense plan if necessary. Everyone went home, and you have the real-world experience if such a thing should ever happen again.

Your Christmas present was experience and confidence. :)
 
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Joe_Pike

New member
I think what amazed me most was the tunnel vision. I was on a specific path and everything else was blocked out. I managed to do everything in the dark in case anyone was trying to follow my actions and to my surprise got all of my clothes on the right way.
 
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Sparks1957

New member
Glad to hear you're OK. Sounds like you handled the situation admirably.

As much as that shook you up, just remember that it turned out well and that it could have been much worse.
 
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Kevin Rohrer

New member
This is not an unusual occurrence. We get occasional calls late at night from homeowners who have drunks or meth-heads try to get into what they believe to be their own house. The idiots either walk into unlocked homes and fall asleep on the couch or injure themselves breaking a window or door (getting cut w/ glass is far worse than getting cut w/ a knife).

My favorite home-defense weapon is one of my Garands w/ a bayonet mounted.

En Guard! ;)
 
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LockedBreech

New member
Kevin Rohrer said:
This is not an unusual occurrence. We get occasional calls late at night from homeowners who have drunks or meth-heads try to get into what they believe to be their own house. The idiots either walk into unlocked homes and fall asleep on the couch or injure themselves breaking a window or door (getting cut w/ glass is far worse than getting cut w/ a knife).

My favorite home-defense weapon is one of my Garands w/ a bayonet mounted.

En Guard! ;)
Click to expand...

Aww yeah, Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino style!
 
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357 Python

New member
Glad it was no worse than it was and that you are safe. As far as the charges go it isn't what you know, believe, or is obvious; it is what can be proven in court. Being able to prove the charges in court must be a high standard so that the innocent is not convicted, or at least that is the goal. We all know how "perfect" the system is at convicting the guilty. Again glad everything turned out the way it did.
 
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Joe_Pike

New member
Glad it was no worse than it was and that you are safe. As far as the charges go it isn't what you know, believe, or is obvious; it is what can be proven in court. Being able to prove the charges in court must be a high standard so that the innocent is not convicted, or at least that is the goal. We all know how "perfect" the system is at convicting the guilty. Again glad everything turned out the way it did.
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The officer was trying to get me to say that I heard him trying to get in by turning the door knob. I told him that the window breaking was the only thing that I heard. I guess a jiggling door knob would have indicated trying to get in. I thought the broken window indicated that but he said that just indicated vandalism. I know it's "innocent until proven guilty", and I'm glad it is that way, I just thought it was obvious that he was trying to get in whether he thought the house was his or not.

He asked me if I wanted to press charges and I said, "Heck yes". Apparently many folks don't want to press charges after something like this.
 
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Dabull

New member
Glad to hear everything turned out ok for you. I agree you handled it well. What, if anything, would you do differently next time?

I had what I believe to be an attempted break in years ago (the cops called it criminal mischief....maybe no door knob rattling?). My response was not what it should have been that night so I did a lot of thinking to refine my plan. To this day I am overly startled when awakened by the sound of breaking glass.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367025

PS...Are you a fan of the world's greatest detective or is your username just a coincidence?
 
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PADefenseTrainer

New member
Nice work.

I wonder if that guy will ever know how close he came to losing his life for the crime of being a drunken idiot.

Thanks for sharing your story.
 
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tgreening

New member
The only thing dumber than a crook is a drunk crook. I had one break into the lunch room at my business. When the cops got there his drunk butt was still trying to pry open the vending machine, while the alarm was screaming away. Too dumb/drunk to take a hint.
 
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Skadoosh

New member
Something I learned from my time in the Navy: report the fire before attempting to battle the fire on your own.

Its good advice. For many situations.
 
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catnphx

New member
Joe Pike said: I immediately ran to the bedroom and threw on some clothes and grabbed my SA SD9 and a flashlight.
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I read one of Massad Ayoob's books and he said to put some clothes on IF you have time ... it was all about confidence and you need all you can get during times of stress. Glad it all worked out for you. It would be nice if everyone could have a safe and successful practice encounter (like what you had). You are now a leg up in experience if this happens again.

Well done!!
 
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Joe_Pike

New member
What, if anything, would you do differently next time?
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The first thing I did was try to get to more firepower than the P32 that I keep by the TV, which I had grabbed first. I decided to go for the XD9 in my range bag instead of the 642 that I carry in my pocket. I had to slip a magazine in the XD9 because it has to be unloaded when I leave the range and I just left it that way. I think the only thing that I will do differently is have the XD9 ready to go at all times, and maybe load up the S&W 65, too.

PS...Are you a fan of the world's greatest detective or is your username just a coincidence?
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Big fan of Elvis and Joe.

Something I learned from my time in the Navy: report the fire before attempting to battle the fire on your own.
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Everything happened within a minute or two, and from a dead sleep I did better than I thought I would. After the sound of the glass breaking it was me making sure I had a gun in my hand before anything else in case they were on their way in. The phone call to 911 was not far behind.
 
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