Lei

Fallen Soldiers

Photo courtesy of Ro.

The administrator in charge of our nursing home called me today. She said the appliance repairman came to our nursing home this morning. Our Maytag "quiet" operation washing machine is not so quiet anymore and is leaking a bit so I called the service people to look at it. The estimated repair cost came in at roughly the same price as a brand new unit if not more being around five hundred dollars. Time to go appliance shopping again.

Then she told me about another takedown. She stepped out onto 8th street this afternoon when she noticed a man being chased down by a dog. It barked and barked and barked but didn't hurt the man. He seemed like he was really high on drugs as three police cruisers had pulled up around him. One of the four or five officers there continued to yell at him "Get down! Get down!" over and over again. The man didn't listen. He was surrounded and pushed over to the grass away from the concrete sidewalk.

The staff at our nursing home had now closed the door to the street and everyone just watched through the window with great interest.

The man got back up and tried to get away again.
"Get down!" yelled one of the officers as he aimed the lazer on his gun at the man's head.
He couldn't walk. He just stumbled around probably unable to understand what was going on let alone have any bodily control over himself. He fell down, hit his head on the concrete and began to bleed. Finally he laid down on the grass. An ambulance was called and the dog was ordered to stop barking.

When the ambulance came, the paramedics came out in full protective gear, bullet proof vests and all. They didn't want to take any chances with this man. I wonder what he was being arrested for in the first place.

Breaking News - Two Young Males attempt Daylight Robbery of Asian Woman!

Peanuts Press (2004) - An older asian woman was robbed by two men on the sidewalks of Impact Plaza in the Guildford area around 8pm this evening. A handfull of middle aged men and small teenagers saw the incident before chasing after the two males. They ran behind the plaza up a small hill and into a small forest. At this point, the pedestrians in pursuit stopped the chase and called the police. One individual was apprehended while the other is still at large. Most items in the robbery were retrieved having been left behind while being pursued.

The first male is described as a caucasian standing approximately 6' 3" with a thin build and a slight hint of a beard along the chin. He was wearing dark clothing and possibly track pants of some sort with a large stripe down the side. The second individual is described as being caucasian standing approximately 5'10" with a regular build, curly blonde hair and loose clothing which may have been grey and green or brown in colour. Both are considered to be in their early to mid twenties.

The asian woman suffered only minor scratches as she was pushed down to the ground. She had put up some resistance before being overpowered by the shorter of the two assailants. Her young daughter was not hurt in the incident.

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After work today, I drove to Sportchek in Lansdowne Mall, Richmond to look for a pair of batting gloves for a friend of mine in London. He had picked out a set of Easton VRS gloves which were hard to find. I managed to find exactly one full pair, size small. I went out on a limb and figured it should fit his hands. They were really nice - Gel padding on the palms, perforated fingers for ventilation and high quality leather. There after, I drove to another sporting goods store way over in Newton. I picked up a left handed, Rawling Silverback 1300 fielding glove as well. This was the only store which carried this exact model. When it was my turn to pay for the merchandise at the check out of the tiny store, the clerk asked me what team I played for and how good I was. I told him it wasn't for me and that it was for someone who just played recreational competitive softball in another country. London to be exact. His response to that was "Oh. ok. I was just asking because its a really expensive glove." I responded with "yeah, he found it on the internet and told me that that was the one that he wanted to have". I had to agree. On the computer it just looked alright but when I put it on my hand, it was really nice. Moments after flashing my visa card, I was was walking out the door with a new glove. Not mine of course.

I drove to the house which I was supposed to drop the items off with expecting the woman to not be home. She was a friend of my friend in London and had returned to visit her father in the hospital. He had cancer so you can guess why she had to make this trip back. Early tomorrow morning she will return to London with two hundred and twenty three dollars worth of gloves both big and small. Those Easton's weren't cheap either.

After this, I drove to a nearby plaza to buy some specially seasoned peanuts from the asian food market. I tend to always have some sort of snack at my desk at work as I try to eat healthy. Junk food is avoided wherever possible.

While driving through the plaza, I saw a scurry of activity on the sidewalk. People running, the faint cries from a woman and some startled onlookers getting involved in a chase. I picked out the image of two young men pushing their way by the woman pulling at her purse. The contents of which were flying everywhere. I was in my truck approximately thirty feet away when I saw this event unfold. The group ran between two sections of the plaza building and behind it. I pulled my truck up to the curb in the wake of what was left behind as people were running away. As a man yelled "Thief! Someone call the police!", I realized what had just happened. I decided not to get out of the truck and follow on foot. Instead, I quickly turned my truck around and drove to the south end of the plaza parking lot before making a left to head eastward toward the back of the plaza. As I got there, I saw the group of older men standing on the side of the road which I was now on. The two thieves had run up a small dirt hill and into a forest and the group of older men would and could not follow. One of them was on their cell phone probably calling the police while I was already on mine talking with the police as well. And while giving my take of the incident to the 911 switchboard, I drove to the end of the block and made another left heading northward.

The forest is bounded on the west by the plaza alley. To the south there is a major roadway. On the back or eastside there is a gated townhouse complex and to the North, it is partially cut off by a one lane dirt alley. As I drove past the townhouse complex, I noticed that there was too much activity for the suspects to go through so I kept driving northward until I came up to the small dirt alley. I turned left into the alley having now almost encircled the forest. I hesitated at the entrance looking down the barren and dim path before stepping on the gas pedal to accelerating fast ahead. There were some dark objects near the crest of the road as it went up and back down into the forest. On my right were some old houses and on my left through a thin line of trees was a tall grass field. I drove up to the crest of the alley before a smalll brown object jumped across my path. Braking really hard, I skidded to a stop and as I got within a few feet of it, I made out the form of a rabbit before it disappeared beneath the line of my front hood. Consciously I knew that it had run away so I drove further in. The alley ended in what looked to be some sort of automotive graveyard. There was a handful of cars and trucks. I did not look at them in any great detail as I was quickly scanning around looking for anything moving in the trees. The last house on my right was bounded on three sides by trees, bushes and the cars to the front. To my left the grass field disappeared. Only the forest existed beyond this point. Looking above the bushes and through the clearing ahead of me, I could see the back of the plaza a couple hundred feet ahead. The roadway was now sloping downward and no one else was around. I had a feeling that the two robbers would eventually head this way. At the same time, I was still talking to the police department on my phone answering their questions. They told me that they had received other calls regarding the same incident. A positive benefit from the development of the cell phone era I think. I finished the call and slowly backed out of the alley. It was only one lane wide and there was a small ditch with mud on both sides which ran discontinuously the length of the road. I didn't feel like testing out the capabilities of my truck this evening as it was getting dim and the sun could not be seen directly anymore. When I reached the main road on the eastern border of the forest, I started heading back to the plaza to see if the others had had any luck.

Only one man was left standing by the entrance to the rear alley of the plaza. The last of the other bystanders was about to leave in his car as all that would soon be left would be the older man, his wife and son, a korean man a little older than me and the asian woman who was robbed and her daughter. I found out that the older man had managed to grab the cap off of one of the suspects at the onset of the chase. He and his son joked about being able to describe the other suspect by seeing his underwear because they had pulled down the suspects pants partways during the struggle. I believe it was grey but I could be mistaken. The korean man had a tae kwon do school in the plaza and had noticed the band of people running down the road.

After I spoke with the older man, I turned my truck around and drove back onto the main road to look at the forest. Again I made a left to drive past the east or back end of the townhouse complex. The gate had opened and an older domestic type car was leaving. In the shadows, I thought what looked to resemble one of the two robbers. Quickly I pulled over and looked back before putting the truck in reverse to get a better look. When the driver turned in the opposite direction I could see his face and upper body clearly. He was not one of them. I looked forward and was about to continue driving forward when I looked back and saw a thin, lanky figure come through the gates on foot before it closed. His appearance seemed strange as he was looking every which way while walking quickly on the sidewalk. He was heading northward in the same direction I was about to go so I watched him from inside my truck. Repeatedly he kept looking around not noticing that I was driving parallel to him. Looking. Watching. Studying. The small dirt alley came up and he went into it. I didn't turn in as I started to doubt whether or not he was the taller of the two suspects. Everything seemed to match plus his body language sort of gives him away. As I drove ahead I noticed a police car coming in the opposite direction. It turned right onto the next major street and I turned left to follow it. The officer sped down the road before turning around and coming back towards me. I waved at the officers car but he did not notice my gesture. I wanted him to stop so that I could tell him that one of the robbers was in the next road over just forty feet away. Quickly I turned around and drove back to the main road, behind the police car and to the small dirt alley again. The police car drove up to the crest of the alley but I stopped and parked my truck in the driveway next to a house. The young man was now at the second house on my right standing at the doorway. He was pretending to act like he lived there or was visiting someone there. What was I going to do? The officer probably only looked into the forest on his left side not paying attention to the person on the right at the house. I got out of my truck, walked around behind it a looked at the tall man who was now facing me from the steps by the front door. He probably had watched the police car disappear behind me as it headed down towards the junkyard of vehicles at the dead end.

I could feel the man's eyes in my direction even before I was out of my vehicle. Neither of us moved or said anything as I looked at him. He had a shifty sort of appearance about him. The police vehicle drove backwards slowly and had almost passed the house before he stopped and shouted out some questions. I could just barely make out the conversation when the officer finally stepped out of his car. The two met half way in the stone driveway and began exchanging information. It was over. Without my input, the officer will know soon enough.

In the end, all the witnesses and people involved were asked to submit a detailed report. A retyped version of this blog will be submitted to constable Bindra. She had allowed me to leave by giving me a list of questions which she wanted me to answer in as much detail as possible. Compared to this blog, the report will seem like a chore.