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End of vacation, a happy first day of school

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Contributed by: Tom Cummings on 8/6/2008

This past spring I bought my seven-year-old grandson a new BMX bike, which he used most of the summer vacation with his friends riding around the neighborhood. I told him to make sure that when he was not using it that he keep it locked in the garage. To make a long story short, he left it in front of the house or in the garage unlocked, he didn't remember which, but it was taken and the next morning he stopped by my house to see if I had it. I didn't and was disappointed right along with him. Just the day before he was at my house telling me how he was going to ride it to and from school the next week when his vacation was over.

On the first day of school while driving my granddaughter home in the afternoon from high school in my pickup truck, I noticed four young teenage boys in a corner house driveway, one of which was sitting on a bike that looked familiar. My granddaughter agreed it looked familiar, but what were we to do? Neither of us had a cell phone to call the police.

I drove my granddaughter home then went home got my bill of sale for my grandson's bike and told my older grandson to follow me in his car. My grandson parked in front of the house and I pulled into the driveway, the boys were still there. I confronted the boy sitting on the bike, asked him his name and where he got the bike? He told me his name and that he had bought the bike for a few dollars from another boy. I was told by one the boys he had the bike for a couple weeks. I told my grandson to call the police on his cell phone, he did.

I told the boys that whoever lived there to go get their parent or parents. A woman came out and I told her I had called the police and that I thought the bike was stolen and belonged to my grandson. She said her son had bought it from another boy and had it for a couple weeks. After a few minutes of further discussion I decided to put the bike in the back of my truck until the police arrived. As I was trying to put the bike in the back of the pickup the woman grabbed hold of the bike and said no it is staying here in the drive. A little tug of war and I gave in and placed the bike back down in the driveway.

Two police officers arrived, I gave them my name and other requested particulars, then related to them the story of the stolen bicycle. I showed them my bill of sale and a sales document from the dealer with the bike's serial number. One of the officers compared the serial number on the bike with the dealer sales document, they matched.

The officers interviewed the woman and the boys. A few minutes later, I asked one of the officers if I could put the bike in the open back of my truck. He told me I was getting a summons for assault and battery and that I should not have gone on private property to retrieve the stolen bike. He also said he was charging someone for having the stolen bike. I was no longer interested in who stole the bike or the stolen bike itself anymore, only why I was being charged with assault and battery. It seems it was related to my tug of war with the bike in the drive.

I discussed this with the officer and told him I did not feel the charge was justified. A few minutes later, I was told I was receiving a summons for trespassing and after a few minutes more including further discussions, no charges.

Now I was interested again in retrieving my grandsons bike, which with permission I put in the back of my truck, went home and delivered the bike. I got a big smile and a "Thank You Papa".

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Tom Cummings

Aurora , CO

Tom Cummings has posted 6 stories and 0 comments since joining on 10/24/2005. Tom Cummings 's average story rating is 5.

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