Thank You For Visiting Terre Haute
YESTERDAY WE HAD A BIT of Big City excitement here in Terre Haute. A couple of brainless gangbanger wannabees from Chicago came to town. They weren’t here visiting the Indiana State campus contemplating a transfer to get a degree in Law Enforcement. They weren’t here even looking to score some Square Donuts (a local delicacy) to take home.
No, they were visiting Terre Haute to rob a gun shop.
Silly Rabbits.
This was a truly Dumb Feral-Misfit Trick. I guess they never thought about the fact that most gun shop owners and employees are always packing some serious heat. Many gun shop customers are law enforcement officers (cops to you and me) who, even off-duty will be strapped.
Our out-of-town visitors were having a bit of luck when they first went into the store. On this visit to the shop they cased the joint and pretended to be your usual, everyday street thug customers. I’m sure they raised no suspicion there.
After a break for lunch they returned to the shop and conducted a quick smash and grab. When they hurriedly left they were followed by the owner of the shop as well as an off-duty LEO who happened to be in there shopping.
Our tourists then proceeded to try to make their getaway. Their route took them to a spot a mere five blocks from the Central Police Headquarters where they were met by more Black and White cars than you would usually see in a “Dirty Harry” movie.
It was at this point that the guys from Chicago ended their leisurely tour of the city and were escorted to the highlight of their trip: Central Booking, where they both received personalized souvenir photos of themselves gaily dressed in orange jumpsuits.
Obviously, these clowns didn’t do their homework before trying to pull off a robbery in Terre Haute. Our Police Force has a unique way of responding to any unlawful act. They swarm like flies around a month-old squirrel carcass.
Prime example: A couple of weeks ago I was at the Laundromat taking care of making dirty into clean. Not long after I arrived, and got the washers loaded, a man came through the door. His face was almost invisible, hidden in a pile of coats, scarves and hats. He was dragging two plastic bags filled with – God knows what. Instead of going toward the washers he went directly to the Men’s Room.
Jump ahead about a half-hour and this man has not emerged from the restroom. He had not bothered to lock the door and several other men had opened the door and been met with loud yelling.
Such fun.
Eventually the fellow exited the Men’s Room, still dragging the plastic bags, and walked down to the far end of the room toward the Dry Cleaner’s Desk. It was only a few seconds before I could hear him hollering at the woman working there. No way was she going to put up with that nonsense.
By this time I was packing up the dry laundry, getting ready to head home. Before I even got to the door I heard even more yelling. On my way back to my car I noticed that the man was now firmly in the grip of two Terre Haute police officers. I saw another officer crossing the parking lot.
By the time I loaded our cleaned clothes into the car I spotted five, count ‘em, five, Terre Haute Black and Whites on scene.
Unless the clown being held by the officers was armed with a selection of Weapons of Mass Destruction I think that this might have been just a little bit of overkill.
Does it really take five, count ‘em, five, patrol cars full of officers to deal with one, count ‘im, one, slow moving, bat-crap-crazy fool?
The Terre Haute Police force has a reputation for this sort of response. I have been stopped at a red light and seen a driver pulled over by a TH police cruiser with one officer and, before the traffic light turned green, two other Police cars came screaming to the scene with lights flashing and sirens wailing.
Unless the driver of the pulled over car was the reincarnation of John Dillinger I seriously doubt that such a show of force was called for.
I have mentioned this overindulgence in group response to an officer with the County Sheriff’s Department. He confirmed that this behavior by the Terre Haute Police is a source of much amusement among outside law enforcement agencies.
While that may be so it sure did prove effective with our Chicago visitors. Those fools must have felt that they had just wandered into a re-enactment of the final scene from “Bonnie And Clyde.” They are just lucky someone yelled, “Cut!” before they suffered the same fate.
Down the Hall on Your Left 