Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - What did the Police want last time they were at your house?

Clermont · 10-17-2008, 02:19 PM

A couple years ago I was up late reading in bed (a good biography of Eddie Rickenbacher, a WWI ace), my wife was snoring away next to me, our 2 year old daughter is snug in her crib upstairs, and our two little dogs were sleeping happily on the bed next to me. Maybe it was because my book was a little too engrossing, but I couldn't sleep, and was up well past my usual bed time. About 12:30 I heard the door knob to the back door turn, then the squeaking of the door hinges, like someone was coming into the house because, well, someone was coming into my house. Since I don't have folks coming over at all hours of the day and night I was quite certain that this was a thoroughly unwelcome visitor.
I was a little surprised at my reaction to this. I was a little scared, but mostly I felt like a little kid who just heard Santa coming down the chimney and might get a chance to whack his sack of toys like a piñata.
I ran to my closet and grabbed a sword and ran out into the living room where the back door is. All the lights in the room were off, and it's in the back of the house away from any street lamps. The only light came from my bedside table, which was around the corner through the doorway behind me, which left the room extremely dark, but there was a definite moving presence next to the back door- sort of a charcoal grey against the blackness of the walls. He was about 15 feet from me with a couch between us.
I was just standing there in my tighty-whiteies, but I brandished the sword as menacingly as I could, and screamed as loudly as I could “You get out of here!” which came out barely intelligible, but he wisely obeyed. With great speed.
(I have a theory about how he understood me. Love is a universal language, but apparently so is homicidal sword wielding goon.)
I fumbled around for a light switch, and checked the room to be sure he didn’t leave a buddy behind. When I turned on the big flood lights that cover the back yard I saw that he’d run so fast that he left a hole in our back fence, almost a cartoon character style outline of broken boards and twisted nails.
I called the police, checked the back yard and the house for accomplices, and put on some pants. When the police arrived they were very nice, and told me that such an entry counts as felony burglary, and that I would be within my rights to use lethal force in the situation I was in. Texas laws are weird, but I can't say I'm upset with having such an option.

10-17-2008, 02:19 PM	#38 (permalink)
Clermont Upright Location: Austin, Texas	A couple years ago I was up late reading in bed (a good biography of Eddie Rickenbacher, a WWI ace), my wife was snoring away next to me, our 2 year old daughter is snug in her crib upstairs, and our two little dogs were sleeping happily on the bed next to me. Maybe it was because my book was a little too engrossing, but I couldn't sleep, and was up well past my usual bed time. About 12:30 I heard the door knob to the back door turn, then the squeaking of the door hinges, like someone was coming into the house because, well, someone was coming into my house. Since I don't have folks coming over at all hours of the day and night I was quite certain that this was a thoroughly unwelcome visitor. I was a little surprised at my reaction to this. I was a little scared, but mostly I felt like a little kid who just heard Santa coming down the chimney and might get a chance to whack his sack of toys like a piñata. I ran to my closet and grabbed a sword and ran out into the living room where the back door is. All the lights in the room were off, and it's in the back of the house away from any street lamps. The only light came from my bedside table, which was around the corner through the doorway behind me, which left the room extremely dark, but there was a definite moving presence next to the back door- sort of a charcoal grey against the blackness of the walls. He was about 15 feet from me with a couch between us. I was just standing there in my tighty-whiteies, but I brandished the sword as menacingly as I could, and screamed as loudly as I could “You get out of here!” which came out barely intelligible, but he wisely obeyed. With great speed. (I have a theory about how he understood me. Love is a universal language, but apparently so is homicidal sword wielding goon.) I fumbled around for a light switch, and checked the room to be sure he didn’t leave a buddy behind. When I turned on the big flood lights that cover the back yard I saw that he’d run so fast that he left a hole in our back fence, almost a cartoon character style outline of broken boards and twisted nails. I called the police, checked the back yard and the house for accomplices, and put on some pants. When the police arrived they were very nice, and told me that such an entry counts as felony burglary, and that I would be within my rights to use lethal force in the situation I was in. Texas laws are weird, but I can't say I'm upset with having such an option.