How I Spent My Day

The cat needed to go to the vet, so I had her in the carrier, heading out the door, when Eli spotted me.

“Daddy, where are you going?”

“I’m taking Amber to the vet.”

“Can I come?”

I was already running late, and didn’t really want to wait, but I did. He got his shoes on, and went potty (it’s important; he’s 4), and off we went.

As we got near our church, I saw a Nissan SUV pull into the lot through the exit driveway. I didn’t think much of it, since lots of cars use our lot to turn around. As I passed the church, though, the SUV drove around behind the church.

Now, in the 6 years we’ve been associated with this congregation, we’ve seen more criminal activity than we did in 8 years at a congregation that’s much closer to the big city of Columbus. In just 3 years, we’ve had our John Deere tractor stolen once, along with another attempt; there was a break-in as well, although nothing was stolen. I’m an ex-cop, as well, and when people like me see something like this, we think, “That’s a clue!” So I turned around to go check on things.

Normally, I might have driven around back myself to see what was going on. But I had a sick cat and a 4-year-old in the van with me. I dialed the Madison County Sheriff’s Office, identified myself, and explained what I had seen. They said they’d send a deputy out. In the meantime, I called our pastor, to make sure he hadn’t given someone permission to go back there, or do some work. He hadn’t. I explained what was going on, and he said he’d head down to the church. Just a minute or two later, the deputy arrived. I told him what I had seen, and he walked around the south end of the building to see what he could see.

I heard him call out, “Hey, what are you guys doing?” As an ex-cop, I was immediately conflicted. I still have an affinity for people I see as comrades-in-arms, but I had Eli and a sick cat with me. My decision was forced a moment later when two men took off running around the north end of the building and into the soybean field there, with the deputy in foot pursuit. I followed in the van, hoping to cut one of them off before he was able to reach the road. I was unsuccessful, and both suspects and the deputy continued across the road and through the soybean field towards Battelle. I followed for 15 or 20 feet, until I heard the unmistakable report of a pistol being fired. None of the four of us really reacted, other than my retreat back to my van, which was blocking SR 142. I got back in the van, made sure Eli was safe and calm, then parked in the driveway of the church to watch the upcoming show.

In the next 5 minutes, officers from 5 agencies converged on the area, including Battelle Security, more Madison County deputies, West Jefferson PD, Franklin County deputies, and MetroPark rangers (unarmed, I might add). The Columbus PD chopper, a couple of Ohio Highway Patrol units, and a Franklin TWP officer eventually joined them.

As events eventually unfolded, we discovered that the suspects had, in just about 6.5 minutes, dismantled the two heat pump compressors behind the church. They were ready to start cutting the coils free when the deputy confronted them. Another minute, and we would have been out a couple of thousand dollars of Puron® and Freon. As it was, we’re probably out a couple of hundred dollars in labor, putting things back together. We’ll know more on Wednesday.

As for the suspects, one was captured in the first half-hour, trying to hide in a retention pond at Battelle. Probably not the brightest move he’s ever made. Then again, given what Battelle works on over there, maybe it will turn out to be a glowing move. 🙂

The second suspect remains at large, wanted on several warrants in Madison and Franklin counties, as well as federal charges.

The pistol shot was an accidental discharge by the deputy.

Just another day in paradise.

Isn’t it amazing, how the timing of the day just happened to work out so that I was in the right place at exactly the right time to see them pull around the back of the building? Another 30 seconds either way, and I never would have seen it, and we (and our insurance company) would have been out several thousand dollars. All for a few bucks worth of copper tubing.