Thursday night in Diablo Canyon/West Oakland/Grande Vista, I came on the tail end of an evening-long drama. It began when a Mercedes drove up into the cul de sac, adn then five men got out and headed towards a house at the end of the block, past my friend's Victorian mansion. they apparently went in to rob the house, but found there were people home, including the proprietress, who did not cooperate. Surprised by this, they left and took off running down the street. After a few minutes elapsed, one of them - by himself - returned to try to retrieve the Mercedes (which turned out to be have been stolen). On the way to the car he passed some of Guy and Michelle's neighbors and housemates and looked nervous and started to apologize.
But several of his neighbors didn't just want to let him escpae. Housemate Colleen (pictured above, two days later), a former military lawyer, went out as the guy got in the car and stood behind the car and tried to talk out of leaving (a la Tienaman Square and the man standing in front of the tank?). She knew the police should be on their way. (She apparently considered the possibility that he could run over her with the car or gotten out and shot her.) Apparently, they guy put the car in reverse and instead of hitting her hit a truck (parked in the crowded cul de sac where my rental car was parked the next day). He got out and started running towards the end of the cul de sac. This turned out to be a bad move because the apth he ran up off the cul de sac heads towards the reservoir and then dead ends.
Shortly thereafter, police cars and a police helicopter arrived and the police quickly apprehended the guy. The police took the guy in one car and then Colleen and her husband Noah in another car and then asked him whether theycould confirm he was the one. Throughout the ordel, the neighbors - including kids and dogs - filled the Grande Vista cul de sac until a de facto block party developed. Instead of fearing that these men would return, the neighbors confirmed friendships they had made and - in Guy and Michelle's case - they've been in the neighborhood for a month - they made new friends.
So the tail end of this that I expered was several hours laterwhen I arrived in the dark walking up and down the street in my jacket and tie looking for Guy and Michelle's house and running into a man leeting his dogs out at 2 a.m. who was - in hindsight, somewhat understandably - somewhat suspicious of me. We identified the wrong house as Guy and Michelle's house. I knockedon the door, and I waited unti the guy was back in his house to do what I figured I woudl end up doing anyway - going back to the rental car to sleep - around the corner - something that probably would have REALLY made him suspicious, had he known.
It was interesting hearing several different versions of this story - from Michelle, who remained oblivious up in her room for most of this; from Guy, who had disappeared at a critical time; from the heroine of the Grande Vista home invasion herself (Colleen), adn from Collen's friend Helen. All of the versions of the story were slightly different, though they were all good stories. ANd I encountered first-hand evidence several hours later that SOMETHING had happened earlier in the evening.
Let's hope for less dangerous community-building on Grande Vista in the future.
But several of his neighbors didn't just want to let him escpae. Housemate Colleen (pictured above, two days later), a former military lawyer, went out as the guy got in the car and stood behind the car and tried to talk out of leaving (a la Tienaman Square and the man standing in front of the tank?). She knew the police should be on their way. (She apparently considered the possibility that he could run over her with the car or gotten out and shot her.) Apparently, they guy put the car in reverse and instead of hitting her hit a truck (parked in the crowded cul de sac where my rental car was parked the next day). He got out and started running towards the end of the cul de sac. This turned out to be a bad move because the apth he ran up off the cul de sac heads towards the reservoir and then dead ends.
Shortly thereafter, police cars and a police helicopter arrived and the police quickly apprehended the guy. The police took the guy in one car and then Colleen and her husband Noah in another car and then asked him whether theycould confirm he was the one. Throughout the ordel, the neighbors - including kids and dogs - filled the Grande Vista cul de sac until a de facto block party developed. Instead of fearing that these men would return, the neighbors confirmed friendships they had made and - in Guy and Michelle's case - they've been in the neighborhood for a month - they made new friends.
So the tail end of this that I expered was several hours laterwhen I arrived in the dark walking up and down the street in my jacket and tie looking for Guy and Michelle's house and running into a man leeting his dogs out at 2 a.m. who was - in hindsight, somewhat understandably - somewhat suspicious of me. We identified the wrong house as Guy and Michelle's house. I knockedon the door, and I waited unti the guy was back in his house to do what I figured I woudl end up doing anyway - going back to the rental car to sleep - around the corner - something that probably would have REALLY made him suspicious, had he known.
It was interesting hearing several different versions of this story - from Michelle, who remained oblivious up in her room for most of this; from Guy, who had disappeared at a critical time; from the heroine of the Grande Vista home invasion herself (Colleen), adn from Collen's friend Helen. All of the versions of the story were slightly different, though they were all good stories. ANd I encountered first-hand evidence several hours later that SOMETHING had happened earlier in the evening.
Let's hope for less dangerous community-building on Grande Vista in the future.
1 comment:
I think "home invasion" sounds more like a SWAT team rather than a few dumbass car thieves. This was a singular event that brought a great deal of excitement to our end of the street. I don't find your comment that we need "less dangerous community-building" at all funny. I've lived there for over 5 years and I find it to be a quiet, safe place to live and raise my child.
As for the "de facto block party"- that happens to some degree all the time in the summer.
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