“141 radio,,, pulling into the last house on the right before County Line!” I knew that a Bud Lee lived there from my patrol days. No relation to Sheriff Lee. The driver baled. “Young W/M on foot in the woods behind the house!” He had taken a bush bond. I was close enough to hear him clearing a path through the woods. But he had too much of a head start for me to pursue on foot. With my siren still blaring, I yelled “I’ve got your car!” and “You’ll never get it outta impound until you see me!” I just stood there, fuming that he got away. “Send the next list radio”. (10-51) As I started my impound report, other units began to arrive. I saw them pulling their cruisers through the yard also. The homeowner came out of his house saucer-eyed, looking shocked and angry. I’d say we had about 3 patrol cars in his backyard with blue lights activated.

My supervisor Lt. Cain met the homeowner at his backdoor and started explaining the situation. He told the other deputies to get out of the man’s yard. After they left, the homeowner calmed somewhat. The next thing I saw came a big six-wheeled heavy-duty wrecker into the backyard. Yellow lights just-a-flashing. I let Lt. Cain take the brunt of the homeowner displeasure. I did not look at the homeowner again while there. I was afraid of getting the scowling of my life.

After all the hoop-la was over, Lieutenant Cain and I continued my investigation. Sitting in the parking lot of a closed stop-and-rob across the street from Bud, we received the tag registration information. Tag registration came back to a male’s name. The address registered to a house on Lee Road about a mile from the stop. Lt. Cain and I proceeded to the known address. As we pulled into the driveway around 02:00, all lights were off in the house. The young w/m would have had plenty of time to make it home through the woods. We rang the doorbell several times before lights came on inside the house. A middle-aged woman answered the door. “We need to speak with so-and-so”. The woman responded that he was her son, but he no longer lived there. “May we step inside to explain what is going on?” She led us into her living room and sat down. Lt. Cain started telling the mother about the events. While he did so, I looked around the living room. We did not ask to intrude more into the home. “Yes he has a black sports car, but I don’t know what kind it is”. It was then that I noticed pictures on the fireplace mantel. Family pictures. I walked over and looked at the pictures while Cain talked with the mother. I saw their family picture, which included a young w/m. I asked Lt. Cain to step over to the fireplace. I whispered to Cain that the picture of the young male was the driver that I saw running from the car. Lt. Cain asked, “are you sure that’s who you saw?” I said yes because I was very confident. Then Lt. Cain asked me, “are you 100% sure?” Now that was another question. I told him that I was 99% sure. Lt. Cain said, “that’s not good enough.”

We then told the mother that when she heard from her son, to tell him to meet with Sgt. Englett to release the Camaro from impound. That way I could confront the son about his actions and decide to place charges or not in his name after my investigation was complete. After about two weeks I received a call from the son wanting the Camaro back. I told him, “sure I will release it, just come on up here and meet with me”. I had no further contact about the car for about 2 more weeks. By law, I had the trump card. The owner of an impounded vehicle could request “the” impounding officer for release. My trump card was that he had to physically meet with me to release. My continuing investigation allowed me to have that choice. Also, I knew that the wrecker service had impound fees, plus lot storage per day. Law back then said that if the service fees reached above the vehicle’s value, the wrecker service could claim the ownership of said vehicle through court action. It had now been about a month before I heard about releasing the Camaro again. I figured that after a month in storage, a huge bill had been accrued. By now the whole department had heard about my standoff. “Radio 141, 10-19 and meet with Mrs. so-and-so in the lobby”. Bingo, that was so-and-so’s mother. Now we’ll see what’s what. I arrived and invited the mother into the patrol muster room where we could talk, and I could complete my written investigation.

The mother then showed me a sales receipt and tag registration in her name for the Camaro. It had been sold to her by her son. I was not pleased and knew what that meant. It meant that she had the ace in the hole. I called in my Lieutenant where he confirmed my thoughts. “She owns the car, release it.” “Arrgh…”. We released the Camaro through the wrecker service about a few days later. I’m sure she had a large impound fee, but if I couldn’t have my day with the perp, at least it would be a big expense.