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Father, son foil holiday car theft
ONE ARRESTED: Victims subdue one suspect, but a second escapes.
By Peter Porco
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 27, 2002)
Jace Bohn spent an angry Christmas Day. Some guy had made off with the family's new Ford Escort that morning -- brazenly snatching the idling car from his Mountain View driveway.
Yet police, in the view of the 18-year-old, were doing nothing about it even though a report was filed after the incident.
"I got mad at them for not finding the car," Jace said, explaining why he urged his family to go after it themselves.
A few hours later, Jace and his father, 43-year-old Gary Bohn, had recovered the Escort on Boniface Parkway. In the process, they kicked and punched the two young men found sitting inside it and wrestled a handgun from one of them, subduing the youth until police arrived.
Police were not amused, the Bohns said. And in fact, they said, officers initially ordered father and son to raise their hands as if they too had broken some law.
In the end, officers arrested a 17-year-old boy, charged him with criminal mischief and took him to McLaughlin Youth Center.
The person apparently driving the car, a youngster in a beanie cap, baggy coat and jeans, was last seen running south on Boniface, according to police.
Police said the Bohns should not have tangled directly with the suspects.
"For obvious reasons," spokesman Ron McGee said. "This one turned out to have a good ending, but this young man pulled a gun on them. It could very easily have turned into something ugly."
Police have no other suspects, McGee said.
The Bohns believe otherwise. Officers later told them, they said, that they know where the main suspect lives.
The chain of events began Christmas morning when Gary Bohn decided to visit a hospital emergency room to find out why his right hand was swollen to twice its size. Bohn, father of six sons, is a boom-truck operator. He wondered if grease had gotten into the cracks of his calloused hands.
About 8:15 a.m., his wife went out to the carport and started her Escort. She would drive him. Bohn, however, was trying to find his shoes, so his wife came to the door and shouted, "Hurry up."
She turned around, and Bohn heard her scream.
He parted the drapes and saw someone in the Escort backing out of the driveway. The driver crashed into a vehicle parked on the street, then roared off with a broken taillight.
Bohn and another of his sons climbed into his pickup and followed. But Bohn soon lost them.
He drove down every street in Mountain View, he said. They searched downtown, then headed for Muldoon. Bohn was driving east on DeBarr Road when he saw a police car ahead. He wanted to talk to the officer and followed.
The patrol car turned right on Beaver Place, he said. Bohn began catching up to it when he saw the Escort on the right, about to pull away from a four-plex in the vicinity of Cheney Lake.
Bohn whipped around, but the Escort's driver had backed away and was headed north on Beaver. At the stop sign on East 16th Avenue, Bohn overtook the Escort and drove onto the curb, cutting it off.
"That's when I made the first eye contact with him," Bohn said.
But the driver scooted away and raced down East 16th Avenue. Bohn chased but lost him. So he went back to the four-plex on Beaver.
Footprints in the snow showed that someone had gotten out of the passenger side, walked up to one of the apartments, then came back to the car.
Another patrol car came by, and Bohn flagged the officer down. He reported the Escort and the apartment.
It was now about 10 a.m., and Bohn went to the hospital.
"We went back and tried to have Christmas," he said. "All these people were waiting for me."
But the family later decided to look again. They drove off in the pickup. Bohn sat in the front passenger seat, his wife drove, while Jace and the fiancee of another of Bohn's sons sat in the rear.
On Boniface Parkway, about 7:15 p.m., they again saw the Escort. It was parked at a liquor store. Bohn's wife drove up and stopped the truck behind the Escort, blocking it in with the driver's side.
The Escort driver backed up, smashing the pickup's underside. He kept the accelerator down, trying to force the pickup away.
Gary Bohn and Jace got out and ran to the driver's side of the Escort. Gary Bohn gave a kick to the window, breaking it and hitting the driver in the shoulder or neck. The driver scrambled out the passenger door.
Jace opened the driver's door and punched the youngster who was sitting in the rear and trying to get out the front. Jace had the boy in a headlock, pummeling his face, when the boy reached into his waistband for a handgun.
Gary Bohn struggled to get the gun turned away from the crowd that was now watching, finally wrenching it free.
The 9mm gun turned out to be empty, Bohn said.
When police arrived shortly after, Bohn still held the gun, and the officers -- the same two they had seen earlier at Beaver Place -- told everyone to raise their hands.
Bohn said he apologized to police for not backing off and letting them handle it.
"I didn't want to hurt nobody," he said. "I just wanted my car back."
http://www.adn.com/front/story/2380202p-2433881c.html
ONE ARRESTED: Victims subdue one suspect, but a second escapes.
By Peter Porco
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: December 27, 2002)
Jace Bohn spent an angry Christmas Day. Some guy had made off with the family's new Ford Escort that morning -- brazenly snatching the idling car from his Mountain View driveway.
Yet police, in the view of the 18-year-old, were doing nothing about it even though a report was filed after the incident.
"I got mad at them for not finding the car," Jace said, explaining why he urged his family to go after it themselves.
A few hours later, Jace and his father, 43-year-old Gary Bohn, had recovered the Escort on Boniface Parkway. In the process, they kicked and punched the two young men found sitting inside it and wrestled a handgun from one of them, subduing the youth until police arrived.
Police were not amused, the Bohns said. And in fact, they said, officers initially ordered father and son to raise their hands as if they too had broken some law.
In the end, officers arrested a 17-year-old boy, charged him with criminal mischief and took him to McLaughlin Youth Center.
The person apparently driving the car, a youngster in a beanie cap, baggy coat and jeans, was last seen running south on Boniface, according to police.
Police said the Bohns should not have tangled directly with the suspects.
"For obvious reasons," spokesman Ron McGee said. "This one turned out to have a good ending, but this young man pulled a gun on them. It could very easily have turned into something ugly."
Police have no other suspects, McGee said.
The Bohns believe otherwise. Officers later told them, they said, that they know where the main suspect lives.
The chain of events began Christmas morning when Gary Bohn decided to visit a hospital emergency room to find out why his right hand was swollen to twice its size. Bohn, father of six sons, is a boom-truck operator. He wondered if grease had gotten into the cracks of his calloused hands.
About 8:15 a.m., his wife went out to the carport and started her Escort. She would drive him. Bohn, however, was trying to find his shoes, so his wife came to the door and shouted, "Hurry up."
She turned around, and Bohn heard her scream.
He parted the drapes and saw someone in the Escort backing out of the driveway. The driver crashed into a vehicle parked on the street, then roared off with a broken taillight.
Bohn and another of his sons climbed into his pickup and followed. But Bohn soon lost them.
He drove down every street in Mountain View, he said. They searched downtown, then headed for Muldoon. Bohn was driving east on DeBarr Road when he saw a police car ahead. He wanted to talk to the officer and followed.
The patrol car turned right on Beaver Place, he said. Bohn began catching up to it when he saw the Escort on the right, about to pull away from a four-plex in the vicinity of Cheney Lake.
Bohn whipped around, but the Escort's driver had backed away and was headed north on Beaver. At the stop sign on East 16th Avenue, Bohn overtook the Escort and drove onto the curb, cutting it off.
"That's when I made the first eye contact with him," Bohn said.
But the driver scooted away and raced down East 16th Avenue. Bohn chased but lost him. So he went back to the four-plex on Beaver.
Footprints in the snow showed that someone had gotten out of the passenger side, walked up to one of the apartments, then came back to the car.
Another patrol car came by, and Bohn flagged the officer down. He reported the Escort and the apartment.
It was now about 10 a.m., and Bohn went to the hospital.
"We went back and tried to have Christmas," he said. "All these people were waiting for me."
But the family later decided to look again. They drove off in the pickup. Bohn sat in the front passenger seat, his wife drove, while Jace and the fiancee of another of Bohn's sons sat in the rear.
On Boniface Parkway, about 7:15 p.m., they again saw the Escort. It was parked at a liquor store. Bohn's wife drove up and stopped the truck behind the Escort, blocking it in with the driver's side.
The Escort driver backed up, smashing the pickup's underside. He kept the accelerator down, trying to force the pickup away.
Gary Bohn and Jace got out and ran to the driver's side of the Escort. Gary Bohn gave a kick to the window, breaking it and hitting the driver in the shoulder or neck. The driver scrambled out the passenger door.
Jace opened the driver's door and punched the youngster who was sitting in the rear and trying to get out the front. Jace had the boy in a headlock, pummeling his face, when the boy reached into his waistband for a handgun.
Gary Bohn struggled to get the gun turned away from the crowd that was now watching, finally wrenching it free.
The 9mm gun turned out to be empty, Bohn said.
When police arrived shortly after, Bohn still held the gun, and the officers -- the same two they had seen earlier at Beaver Place -- told everyone to raise their hands.
Bohn said he apologized to police for not backing off and letting them handle it.
"I didn't want to hurt nobody," he said. "I just wanted my car back."
http://www.adn.com/front/story/2380202p-2433881c.html
