The Crime: Burglary
The Victim: Alex White
Date: Wednesday, March 26
Time: 9 p.m.
Location: 13000 block of Buckthorne Circle
Chalk it up to being at the right place at the right time.
That was the case for Alex White on a recent Wednesday night. Normally, when evening church services end at North Dallas Community Bible Fellowship, White wastes no time getting back to his house. But on this particular Sunday, he happened to linger in the parking lot, chatting with fellow parishioners.
And when the Lake Highlands software developer returned home, he arrived just in time to foil a burglary in his house.
“I arrived home at 9 p.m., and I opened the garage door,” White says. “They broke the kitchen window when I was driving up, and when they heard the garage door opening, they left.”
White didn’t know it at the time, but a burglar had already triggered his home alarm system.
“You know that you have about 20 seconds to turn the alarm off,” White says. “When I opened up the door, the alarm went off after five seconds. I saw the broken glass and went back in the car, armed myself, and drove to the front of the house and called the police and my father.”
White waited 30 minutes for his father to arrive, and they went back into the house together to investigate. The police arrived about 30 minutes later.
“They had a brick wrapped up in a T-shirt and broke the window,” White says. “They left that, and the man had been cut by the glass because there was blood on the shirt, brick and shutters. I feel very blessed that nothing else happened.”
The attempted break-in caused about $450 in property damages, which White has already had repaired.
Dallas Police Lt. Michael Woodbury says White did everything by the book, and encourages other homeowners to do the same if they’re ever in a similar situation.
“He did everything he was supposed to do,” Woodbury says. “If you think someone is in your home when you arrive that isn’t suppose to be there, then call the police.
“If you come home and your garage or front door are open, you must use some common sense. You never want to put yourself in a dangerous situation by confronting criminals.”
