The Perfect Crime?

I may have mentioned my wife and I began watching Monk (as recommended by several Blog readers), and honestly, since I started recording every episode that comes on at any time of the day, so far we have probably watched 40 shows. Now, we race each other to yell out the guilty party first, and usually, one of us is right.

Of course, with several years of watching CSI and all the shred-outs thereof as well as NCIS and other shows, I suspect we are probably equipped to be deputized at any moment so as to assist in all the crimes fit to be solved.

But I find that as easy as some TV crime shows seem so very obvious, real life has a way of giving us clues that lead us one direction and then suddenly send us in another.

Case in point, the information I received today from a concerned neighbor. You may recall from previous rants about taggers and graffiti in general that I volunteer as part of our neighborhood watch program. So I was shocked to learn that one of our volunteers had been injured, and it would appear to be during the course of being an observant neighbor just trying to keep people safe.

The incident actually took place on Christmas Eve and resulted in this poor guy being hospitalized. I confess, I was told that I have met the guy but I just can't seem to place the face. That can make you feel pretty bad, especially if you wanted to send condolences and such.

Anyway, since this story does involve an alleged crime being committed, I will tell you that just like the TV show COPS, all criminals are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

So from what we can gather, this guy has been going out in the wee hours of the mornings patrolling his neighborhood looking for "taggers". We have our fair share and to be honest, we need more people like this guy willing to go out and just try to observe who the little punks are.

Fast forward to the 3-4 AM hour of 24 December 2008. Neighbors hear the sound of a man crying for help and the police are called. When police arrive, they find the neighborhood watcher with blood from the back of his head, and a broken neck laying in the back yard of a neighbor who was out of the country.An informative flier is passed out to neighbors requesting prayers and information regarding possible culprits. Here is the flier that was distributed. If you click on it, you can read it a lot easier. The bottom line is, these are some pretty thoughtful neighbors who clearly care for their friend. We can all be only so lucky to live around such people (and my wife and I are thankful that we do).

So a few days later, it turns out that someone has been watching a little too much Monk or CSI or NCIS, because it would appear that they have done a little digging into the crime only to learn some more details. Police reports have a way of making things slightly clearer.Above are the two pages of the police report for this incident. The gist of it is that the police officer who responded to the scene called for an EMS unit, but also started looking at the clues. His first big clue was that, even though the man was conscious, he didn't feel comfortable enough to explain why he had a screw driver in his pocket, several designer purses by his side and his foot tangled around the curtain still attached to the inside of the house belonging to the neighbor who was out of town. Oh, there is more - just read the report.

The person who provided copies of the police report to the neighbors also added a bit of commentary (not unlike I have done here), sort of pointing to the fact that our good Samaritan was probably more likely the criminal.

I don't know. I would hate to be accused of something (whether I did it or not), just because it is no fun being accused of stuff. But consider this: How better to explain yourself being out walking around the neighborhood at 3 or 4 in the morning if the police or the neighborhood security happen to drive by and ask you what you are up to, by saying you are part of the neighborhood watch looking for taggers or, better yet, the real criminals? It is a little less easy to use that excuse when you have a screw driver in your pocket and your legs are caught up in the curtains of a house that isn't yours.

Anyway, I hope this guy heals up and can get his legal issues resolved. We don't have enough block captains for our neighborhood as it is; we can hardly stand to lose the ones we do have to the big house.