Lucky Drunk

Training Training and Tactics
1

I know this is not the best forum, but I do not have the required posts to put this in general discussion. Wanted to share.

Last night I received a call at 3 in the morning from my neighbor and best friend. He lives on the 1st floor, I live directly above him on the 3rd. this is a guy I went through basic training with and have been stationed together since. Our apartment is constructed in a way that 6 doors share a common staircase, something like apartments 1,2,5,6,12, and 13 share ours.

Anyway, he called me obviously excited that he just had some one try to break into his apartment and to square myself away, then he called the cops (I’m honored to be call number 1 :thank_you2: ).

(A young white male in a leather jacket and ballcap had been messing with his door knob, took the screen off his laundry room window, and was trying to get the screen off of his living room window when my buddy finally caught him, introduced him to his XD and told him he had 1 second to fuck off before he got shot, the guy ran away and he called me)

I woke up my girlfriend, handed her my AR, grabbed my G21 and took a quick look around my apartment and headed downstairs. As soon as I got out of the door I heard somebody walking up the stairs (the staircase goes back and forth and I could not see anyone). I inquired as to who it was and heard a shaky voice of someone I didn’t recognize. I told him not to come up any further. He tried to convince me he lived in the building in apartment 21 (which doesn’t exist), I told him he had the wrong building and not to come any further up the stairs.

I knocked on my neighbors door, told him I had a gun and asked if he recognizes the guy in the stairs, which he did not. He goes back inside to round up his family. The guy in the stairs, now knowing I had a gun, became much more friendly, telling me “he completely understands” and “would be blasting strangers too, if he had his gun (this set the alarms off even more)” He said he had his hands over his head and was leaving, I told him to go ahead and moved to a better spot to observe him and hopefully stop a bullet if this clown actually had his gun. I saw him walking away with his hands up, the guy was definitely the one trying to get into my buddies apartment. I told my neighbor what was up and started to go downstairs to my friends apartment to check on him. Before I got halfway down the stairs the cops arrived and immediately rolled the guy up and took off.

I get downstairs and check on my friend who’s excited but doing everything correct, talking to the dispatch office, trying to find out what was going on. He is told that the cops got the guy and took him away, that he was just some drunk guy who was confused and didn’t know where he was, “he didn’t mean any harm.” and that the police would NOT be coming to speak with him. Essentially they told him it was all over and to go back to sleep without a police officer ever talking to him.

  • It took the police about 10-15 minutes to arrive. We live like 5 minutes away from the lakewood police department, there are cops everywhere all the time. I am not saying 10-15 minutes is unsatisfactory, but rather that it is the reality. This event really drove home all the points I had been making to my girlfriend about who’s responsibility ones safety is.

  • Is the PD’s course of action the norm? I was shocked that an officer would not be talking to my friend at all, even more so at the way the dispatch told him that it was just a drunk guy who meant no harm. Now, after my little conversation with the guy I fully believe thats exactly what it was, some lost drunk guy, but it seems ridiculous that they would just take his word for it and not speak to anyone who was, I dunno, sober. How do we REALLY know this guy wont be back, maybe more prepared? It just doesn’t seem like it was handled properly, any thoughts on this?

  • My friend had quite the conversation with dispatch while waiting for the police. My favorite highlight was “Sir, are you armed? Yes Ma’am. Sir, is your friend armed? (talking about me who he told was on the way down) Oh fuck yea he is.”

  • This event has been making me think about a lot of “what if” scenarios. I have no doubts that if this guy were making his way into my apartment I would defend it (WA is both stand your ground and castle law, but even if it wasn’t), but I don’t know what I would have done on the stairs had he kept coming up. I think I would have drawn down on him and warned him, or if I saw a weapon I would have fired, but honestly, I don’t know. I was not ready to meet the guy on the stairs (I thought he had fled, huge mistake on my part). Also, had the police arrived 15 seconds earlier they would have arrived while I was still in my little standoff. In hindsight I would have made my presence known and followed instructions, but I was not prepared for that scenario either.

After actually typing this up, I see now how lucky everyone was that he was (probably) just a lost drunk.

2

I don’t think he was a lost drunk from the description. Why would a drunk try to break into your friends apartment through the screen and everything, then go upstairs after he was scared off and lie to you about where he lived. I think he was looking for an empty apartment to break into.

Btw, I live pretty close to you if by Lakewood you mean Lakewood, CO. I hope that the police in Golden are more on the ball than that.

3

I have arrested quite a few drunks that appeared to be “trying to break into someones house.” And yes it sometimes that easy to take one look at them and know they are shitfaced to the point they have no idea where the hell they are. And on many of those occasions the homeowner was inside armed with a pistol. Those drunks sometimes don’t know how close they come to getting shot.

Should the officers have gone and spoke with your friend? . . .maybe. But if your friend told dispatch he was fine and there was no damage (other than screens being removed), what are they supposed to do? Visually make sure your friend is alright?

One thing is I would not be entering into an outside hallway with a pistol once you know the cops are coming unless you are damn sure the dude is trying to break down a door or breaking a window. It’s one thing to shoot a guy who has just made entry through your window or door, but shooting an unarmed guy who is standing in the hallway (or staircase) of an apartment building that is considered common ground or public place would be a no-no. And what if you do see a guy with a gun? How do you know he is not one of your neighbors who is doing what your doing (venturing outside with his pistol to see what is going on).

Best thing to do, especially if you know the cops are coming is stay in your house, unless you hear screaming or can hear the guy kicking in someones door and you feel you need to act immediately.

If cops are running to a call of a burglary in progress and they see you standing there with a pistol it might end up being a bad day for you.

4

Thanks for the officers’ pov, El Vaquero. Duly noted. :cool:

5

This was Lakewood WA, and maybe I am just in denial/being optimistic, but the guy seemed buzzed on something when I was “conversing” with him.

El Vaquero - I do believe the police should have talked to him. It could have been for 10 seconds - “Hey, we arrested this guy, everything is ok, we’l call if we need any more information from you.”

When a citizen calls the cops, they want to see a cop. It’s reassuring, even an armed pair of OIF/OEF veterans want to see a cop with a gun tell him he’s got it taken care of. He’s a big boy, he’s over it, but what if it was his wife or my girlfriend? Dispatch (who he felt was pretty rude) saying its ok is one thing, an LEO is another. Just like any “tactical” situation, you want to hear from the guys on the ground, not second hand from a nobody, know what I mean?

I do see your point about going outside, and it is duly noted. Like I said, I made a really stupid and dangerous assumption that the guy was gone and I was going downstairs to check on him. A lot of eye-openning what-ifs.

6

Never mind.

7

This sounds like it would have been the ideal scenario. Unfortunately law enforcement is like any other profession–sometimes you get great customer service, sometimes not so great. Often dispatch will advise if the reporting party requests contact, sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Not making any excuses just saying how it goes. May not be a bad idea to drop the night sergeant a quick call and let him know contact would have been appreciated. Just make sure you call on the same day that it occurred so that you will most likely get that same shift supervisor.

8

what do you expect from lakewood PD? I mean seriously… It’s good ya’ll responded in a safe manner and noone got hurt.

9

Did he look like Robert Downey Junior.

10

I used to work and live in Lakewood. For the most part, the Lakewood cops are pretty good if one is an upstanding citizen so bashing the cops is not really fair. IMO… Response time is varied. It depends on what area. I lived right near 110th/Pacific Hwy. Response time = FAST ! Then moved to Steele/96th, response time = a little longer.
Lakewood is filled with drunks, tweekers and crackheads. There is a lot of stabbings, shootings and D.V. calls. Maybe the cops “wanted” the drunk to get blown away so they didn’t have to do all the paperwork AND let a citizen take out a douche bag ?? Who knows… ?.. :haha:
Sounds like your friend and yourself have that building covered and secure. I wouldn’t mind being your neighbor due to the way you guys handled the situation ! Well done Gentlemen !

11

Glad everything worked out for you OK. I had the PCSO take about 40 minutes to respond to a guy in my driveway with a gun several years back. Turns out that depending on the situation they will wait for multiple units before they roll onto the scene, so I agree with you 100% about these kinds of situations reinforcing the idea that you are on your own until the danger is over.