TexasCHLforum.com

Press report on a vehicle burglary here in San Angelo last night...

Press Release #070912(03)-Man Charged with Burglary of a Vehicle
by City Of San Angelo Police Department on Monday, July 9, 2012 at 10:18am ·
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
 
On Sunday July 8th, 2012, at approximately 8:04am., San Angelo Police Officers responded to reports that a vehicle burglary that had just occurred in the 4400 blk of Meadow Creek Drive.  Arriving Officers met with a witness and learned that he had watched as a young Hispanic male peered into vehicles in the area.  He also observed that the contents of his vehicle were scattered on the ground around his vehicle. Ramirez approached the Suspect and told him he knew what he was doing and that the police had been called. He told the suspect to wait there until the police arrived. The suspect took a black canvas bag he was carrying and struck the Victim in the side of the head. The Suspect then fled on foot.  
 
Officers in the area observed the suspect jumping fences and running through yards.  Officer Able Nandin gave chase on foot and eventually captured the Suspect.  The Suspect was identified as James Martin Garza DOB 07/07/93.
 
The black canvas bag was found to contain property taken from the Victim’s vehicle.  Garza was booked into the Tom Green County Jail on charges of Burglary of a Vehicle, Evading Detention and Class C Assault.   

Apparently the victim approached the thief unarmed, and got whacked in the head. I applaud his bravado, but can't say I would have approached, even if I happened to be armed. He is lucky the only weapon the thief had was the black bag....

, wow, what was this guy thinking?

Phoenix6410 wrote: , wow, what was this guy thinking?

I don't think he was thinking anything........anything at all. I think his brain was in neutral......or perhaps he previously stripped all the gears out of it.

snatchel wrote:Press report on a vehicle burglary here in San Angelo last night...

...Ramirez approached the Suspect and told him he knew what he was doing and that the police had been called. He told the suspect to wait there until the police arrived. The suspect took a black canvas bag he was carrying and struck the Victim in the side of the head. The Suspect then fled on foot.

What Ramirez did was just dumb.

He should have just watched and direct police from a distance. Even with a CHL I doubt I would confront the theif as that could lead to some very bad things, and I don't go looking for bad things, my family would like for me to be around. To approach the theif unarmed and ask him to wait for the cops... dumb.

Did he yell, "Citizen's Arrest! Citizen's Arrest!" first?

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0SoDiZdpqFM[/youtube]

Agree to all of the above. There was no reason to approach the guy and say, "stay here, the police are on the way." Who in the world would expect the thief to turn and say, "aww shucks, you got me. Mind if I sit, my legs are cramped from running around and checking all these cars..?"

No.

And even with a CHL, there is no reason to approach the thief. Stand back and call the police, give a good description. No sense in approaching the guy, risking a fistfight or shootout, or anything else over a broken window or some stolen property out of your car. I'm not saying I would be happy about someone breaking into my car, but I have insurance for that. I also don't leave anything worth stealing inside my car. Backpacks, computers, ipads, phones, guns.... everything goes inside at the end of the day.

I wouldn't be happy watching some guy walk away with my ipad or whatever, and it would certainly leave a nasty taste in my mouth if the police didn't manage to nab him... but i'm not going to confront a person who a) i don't know b)could be armed c)could be unarmed and still beat the crap out of me ....

If I were to see someone scoping out my car and hadn't broken into it, I would call the police and yell at him from my door or window that the police are on the way. If he had already broken a window and was inside, I wouldn't say a word to him, just call the police.

I would be pushing for aggravated robbery charges. He hit the victim in the head with a heavy object and fled with the victim's property. That's robbery at a minimum.

Glad the thief got some jail time and the guy reporting it didn't get hurt, but approaching someone committing a criminal act where you're not in danger (armed or not) is asking for trouble.

Glad it worked out better for him than it did George zimmerman