When searching for suspects remember to keep your eyes open and look everywhere, including up.
We all know to check behind doors, furniture and under the beds to mention a few hiding places. What we often forget is the obvious.
Recently on a call to assist another agency locate a hit-and-run vehicle, our investigation led to a rather unkempt house. The vehicle was parked in the driveway with heavy front end damage and fluids still leaking from the motor. As the initial arriving officer was waiting for back-up units some of the neighbors came outside. The officer and his first back-up officer began to speak with the friendly and informative neighbors about the suspect vehicle and the house.
The neighbors advised that the residents often hide from the police in the crawl space accessed from a secluded backyard entrance. This information was welcomed and the neighbors quickly retreated to their respective homes. The initial accident was in the town south of where I work and the vehicle was tracked to the town just north of us.
The investigating officers for the accident arrived along with officers from my department and the town where the vehicle was located.
As we approached the house to make contact the front door opened and two male subjects emerged eating pizza. Both were unaware of our presence until then. One ran back inside while the other attempted to block our approach. All officers quickly spread out looking for the driver who we had already identified through driver records and the neighbors.
Some officers began checking inside the home, while others including myself were checking the exterior. I was teamed with an officer from another agency (the town where the house was located). We decided to make our way to the rear of the house on the east side and head towards an open detached garage.
As we approached the garage door we could hear some unusual noises coming from our left (towards the house). It did not take long to discover where the noise was coming from. The person we were looking for was on the roof of the house attempting to climb over to a flat portion of the roof to hide. This action would have been successful except for one thing...he had a large cast on his leg. The noise we heard was his cast dragging across the roof shingles.
After a several minutes of officer commands and whimpering on his part, the male gave in and surrendered. He eventually made his way over to the roof edge where a ladder was placed against the house so he could climb down.
Due to his level of intoxication and the leg cast this task was less than graceful.
The male was taken into custody without further incident and no one was hurt.
This incident and many others like it certainly could have turned out differently. We too often forget about looking up into trees, tops of buildings and other areas above us. The point to this little story is a reminder to look up and check the overlooked areas.