Busted Building

Last night I went to go dance to the Blue Vipers of Brooklyn in Whippany, and then went to the diner with a bunch of people for a chocolate peanut butter milkshake and some fries.

Around 2:00 a.m. I was just about home when I pulled up to the intersection at the end of our block and saw a white SUV all cock-eyed in the road, with its front end up on the sidewalk.

At first it just looked like the vehicle had just pulled up onto the corner of the sidewalk, and I wondered if they were going to try to rob the little deli that's there - though I can't imagine a little deli would have something worth stealing during off-hours. But as I pulled past the SUV I could see that the building had a big fat dent in it! It looked like the SUV had its reverse lights on and then off. I wasn't sure whether the driver was just going to try to pull away, so I called the police. They came within 30 seconds and so I thought that was a pretty good response time.

I feel bad for the people who own the deli since they are going to have a hard time doing business with the corner of the building all broken the way it is. I don't feel bad for the driver of the SUV... was probably a drunken schmuck.

Update to the Update

Ok, so we still don't really have any details, but today we have heard that it was only two guys that the police were searching for last night, and apparently neither of them were caught. The End.

The Search Continues

I've lived in neighborhoods before where people were shot dead on the street right in front of my apartment, but this is the first time there's ever been a real live manhunt right in my back yard. Of course the picture here is of the street out front (and there's our lonely little bag of garbage on the side of the road, waiting to be picked up first thing in the morning).

The helicopter has run low on fuel just a few moments ago, so it's quieted down. However, the search continues. And here I am, blogging. What else am I going to do? Sleep?? Yeah, right...

UPDATE: The search has been called off. I guess there was a car-full of guys on foot who were being chased. One of them has been caught. I guess we'll sleep with one eye open tonight.

Police Cars

Well, the man-hunt continues apparently. I'm looking outside our upstairs bathroom window and watching the shadow of our giant oak tree circle around in the chopper's spotlight. Police cars have been driving up and down our street at varying speeds, sometimes with lights flashing and sirens blaring, but mostly in a more stealthy manner. A female police officer was patrolling our street on foot for a short time, but seems to have moved on. I see neighbors peering out their windows trying to see anything that's going on.

And I thought the most exciting thing of the day was the contractors showing up to destroy and rebuild our sidewalk and front steps...

Choppers...

For the last ten minutes there has been a helicopter circling over our neighborhood shining a spotlight. I wonder who they are looking for. Police scanner says something about a car-jacking. The news says something about a search going on and a deadly shooting and car-jacking in the Bronx. But it doesn't sound like the two are related. Hmmm...

In case you are wondering, yes, that's what a helicopter using a spotlight in the dark of night looks like taken with a five-year-old Minolta DiMage X digital camera. :)