Crime & Safety

Police Reports: The One That Got Away, or, 'This Is When You Dial 911'

Despite multiple cues that would arouse suspicion in most, witness to crime decides that a report is not in order.

There are certain cues that tell you, "This doesn't seem right. Maybe I should call the police."

A witness to what turned out to be a crime – probably two crimes – thought what he had seen Friday night was "odd," but apparently not odd enough to warrant dialing three well-known numbers.

His neighbor in an apartment building in the 7900 block of Harwood Avenue did call the police on Saturday to report that his blue mountain bike had been stolen from the building's underground garage.

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He had left it unsecured against the wall at the front of his parking stall, with a chain lock wrapped neatly around the seat post.

He told officers he had no idea who took it, but he knew someone who might.

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He directed officers to the ground-floor apartment of a neighbor who had overheard him talking to the apartment manager about the theft.

Police interviewed the neighbor, who said he had noticed a car pull up behind the apartments at about 11 p.m. Friday. He said he took notice because he did not recognize the car or its driver as belonging at the apartments.

He watched intently as, he said, the driver got out and urinated next to his car. Then the man walked toward Harwood and disappeared from view, he said.

After five to 10 minutes, the witness said, he looked out again to see the man trying to cram a blue mountain bike into the back seat of his car. He said the man had considerable difficulty getting the bike into the car and getting the door to close.

After he finally succeeded, he got into the car and backed it into a guardrail before driving away.

The witness said he thought the incident a bit odd, but he did not call police. He did not go into particulars as to why he did not.

He gave a detailed description, however, of the man, and got the license number of his car.

He described the suspect as a black man with a dark complexion, 40 to 45 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, 150 pounds, with a tattoo on the left side of his neck. He was unshaven with scraggly, patchy facial hair. He was wearing a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt or jacket and blue jeans, with tennis shoes that were “very bright.” He wore a blue baseball cap backward.

The car was a dark blue-gray Nissan sedan, likely a 2005 or newer model.

Police ran the license and found that it listed to an 85-year-old Racine woman who had sold a Desoto two weeks earlier with those plates on it. Police were trying to contact the new owner of the vintage car.

Meanwhile, a woman who lives in the apartment building next door reported later Saturday that she had discovered a window had been smashed out of her car while it was parked in her unit’s underground garage. She said she had left nothing of value inside and nothing was taken.

Given the time involved in the commission of the crime, had the witness called police early in the episode – say, when he saw the stranger relieving himself – officers probably could have been on the scene in plenty of time to catch the crook red-handed.

In other recent incidents:

Saturday

At 7:33 p.m., a 19-year-old Wauwatosa man was arrested for retail theft at , 8616 W. North Ave., after he was seen putting two bottles of rum in his backpack and trying to leave the store.

At 4:10 p.m., Wauwatosa police arrested two Milwaukee men, 34 and 44 years old, on fugitive warrants after a citizen called to say that she had seen one of them jumping into the donation box at North Mayfair Road and West Burleigh Street and removing clothing from it. Police found the two men at a nearby bus stop and recovered three pairs of used jeans and a bag of shoes. The man who had taken the clothing had a bench warrant for retail theft in Wauwatosa. He said he was unemployed and needed clothes. His companion was wanted on warrants for domestic violence and retail theft in other jurisdictions.

Friday

At 5:05 p.m., a server at , 6750 W. State St., reported that a family of seven – a man and woman with five young children who referred to them as “mom and dad” ­– had eaten a meal and left four counterfeit $20 bills on their $71.25 tab. The server said that the moment she picked up the money it didn’t feel right, but the family was already out the door. Police said the funny money was crudely printed on plain paper and clearly hand-cut with uneven edges.

At 4:15 p.m., a security employee at , 3900 N. 124th St., reported that a customer had passed a counterfeit $100 bill about two hours earlier. He said that the customer bought two DVDs for $20, received his change and went to a car in the parking lot. A couple of minutes later a woman got out of the car and entered the store, going to the service counter with the DVDs, presumably to return them for cash. But by this time, the cashier was examining the phony 100, holding it up to the light and then picking up a phone to call her manager. The woman with the DVDs noticed and quickly left. The cashier said that she suspected the bill immediately, but store policy does not allow her to perform an obvious inspection of currency while the customer is present.

A Pewaukee woman reported that between 12:20 and 1:20 p.m. someone smashed a window out of her car and stole a briefcase from the front seat while she was at , 8700 Watertown Plank Rd. She said that there was nothing of monetary value in the case but she had lost important work and personal documents.

A West Bend man reported that between 11 p.m. Thursday and 1 a.m. Friday while he was at , 10842 Blue Mound Road, someone smashed a window in his car and stole a cell phone, an iTouch and his golf shoes. Two other visitors to Mo’s that night also reported smashed car windows, as reported earlier in Wauwatosa Patch. They were a Mayville woman who lost a digital camera and equipment and a Glendale woman who reported nothing stolen. Police noted that while they have no suspects at this time, they believe the smash and grabs at Mo’s may be related to 17 other specific incidents there and around town.


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