From a Fairmount neighbor on Facebook:
Just when I was getting really discouraged by the local political race (be thankful if you’re only concerned about the presidential,) we had a knock at our door.
It was a neighbor holding a teen by the collar who had apparently been rummaging through our van (left unlocked.) The neighbor had chased him down and retrieved my wallet and made him come apologize and give it back. He then told the teen he needed to be at home and told us we need to lock our van.
I love our block. I love our city. I love my neighbors.
39 comments
Sounds like a great neighbor but, honestly, who leaves their wallet in an unlocked car?
Old school! True neighborhood stuff. Thank you.
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Good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
<3 this so much. Can this kick off an entire MONTH of good stories from Church Hill?
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Rather inspiring. 🙂
Awesome. The hood can be a pain, but it also has a timeless respect and integrity.
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Awesome story.
I will probably get some heat for this, but I sure hope a couple days from now your neighbor does not get a knock by the police because they assaulted a minor…
I look at this whole situation like this: Be mad at yourself for not locking your doors. The reality is that all these kids know that people in Church Hill are OVERLY careless about locking their cars… and they take advantage of it.
The reality is that if we all locked our cars… there would not be kids trying handles in our neighborhood, and people would not get stuff taken from their cars. I have not heard one story of these kids actually “breaking” into someone’s car, they simple just opened the door to see what is inside.
@Brittany C. I did. And I can’t promise it won’t happen again. Wrangling three kids into the house after a long day, trying to get back packs and groceries, with the thought of starting evening routines of getting dinner on the table for us and another family, it happened. All I know is I’m still smiling big with a huge thankful heart that a neighbor took a pretty decent risk. All for me. Today I’m not at DMV or canceling cards. And hopefully, and prayerfully, the teen also feels thankful and perhaps this event of him standing scared sh!tless on our porch will prompt him to make better decisions. I know there’s a lot of layers. But I know I’m thankful for my neighbor.
@#7- actually, I can think of at least 1 occasion where a car’s window got smashed within the last year… that’s just within 30 feet of our house; there are undoubtedly more.
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What a great neighbor! I aspire to be like him/her.
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@WarGibFA
Sure it’s the city- there are actual break-ins. But my point is that these kids who are trying door handles are a different set of people who are actually “breaking” into cars by force.
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Daniel- they might not be different people. Who’s to say they don’t try the handle first. If it opens, there’s no point in smashing in a window. If it doesn’t, Windows smash easily.
And it’s besides the point if people are careless and leave their doors unlocked. They don’t have to be mad at themselves for leaving their own property unlocked. Stealing is stealing. Other people shouldn’t be touching other people’s property.
I’ve had locked and chained up lawnmowers cut and stolen from my backyard.
It’s not difficult to lock your doors. I triple and some times quadruple lock the doors of my vehicles. And check all doors to my house. Even the Windows. This area isn’t exactly the safest neighborhood in Richmond. My girlfriend won’t even walk outside at night. We have to drive two blocks to our friend’s house because she is terrified.