And, now, it’s time for a small anecdote about a little car break-in in the South Slope. (The level of such incidents in the Slope is almost non-existent compared to, say, what goes on in Williamsburg where there’s such an abundance of broken glass from car windows is almost like a weird public art project on some streets, but that’s another story.) Today’s tale of cracked safety glass comes from Brooklynian:
It’s 1 AM, and some dude just smashed the passenger side window on a car in front of my building, took something from the car and ran away. My husband saw it happen and we called the cops, and now they’ve come and are doing cop stuff.
Mainly it’s just going to be a pain for the people who own the car, no one was hurt, but should we have, like, leapt to the rescue in some fashion? Executed a citizen’s arrest? Lassoed him? I grew up in rural suburbia. Once a cow escaped and was walking down the street and we called the Lenti farm and told them to get their cow. (Hmm, maybe we should have lassoed the cow.)
The poster wanted to know if she’d done the right thing by calling the cops and answering their questions.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Red Hook // Jun 23, 2008 at 6:47 pm
You did everything right. Calling NYPD was exactly what you should have done. Here’s some input on why this is the case:
Let NYPD do its job. Don’t ever engage a potential suspect or attempt to make contact with someone you feel may be suspicious or dangerous.
While there are obviously some exceptions to this when people are in danger (the subway hero is a great example), there is never any way to know what or who you will encounter when you approach a potential criminal.
In fact, NYPD has the same concerns and that’s why their job can be so difficult. Even a routine traffic stop: they have NO IDEA what they will encounter when they stop someone. It could be an inebriated individual, it could someone with a weapon or it could be… [fill in the blank].
It’s NYPD’s job and training to take these risks and act accordingly. Call 911 and let them do what they’re trained to do.
2 Anonymous // Jun 24, 2008 at 2:20 pm
you didn’t do the wrong thing. the cops will never catch that guy, but at least the car owner’s insurance will cover repairs.