Lakeville Oddity: Two Vehicles Crash With Nobody Driving

Officer Mike Lamm responded to a crash one morning this week between two vehicles in a residential neighborhood, which didn’t involve any drivers. When Officer Lamm arrived at the location, he observed a large pickup that had rolled into the side of a parked sedan, causing significant damage to both vehicles.

In speaking with the owner of the truck, Officer Lamm learned that the pickup truck owner had parked the truck on a hill and set the parking brake. After parking the truck, he was talking to a coworker when he observed his unoccupied truck rolling down the hill on the street, eventually striking the front and side of the parked sedan.

The truck owner reported to Officer Lamm that he heard a clicking noise coming from his truck as it was rolling down the hill. 

HALLOWEEN GOES OFF WITHOUT A HITCH

This past Wednesday night was Halloween and with the exception of a few reports of minor malicious mischief events, vandalism and damage to property calls, I am happy to report that all the trick or treating went off without a hitch. 

Random acts of vandalism are often caused by juveniles and tend to be difficult to prevent and even more difficult to investigate because there is often no real connection between the perpetrator and the property damaged. Sometimes it is a mailbox smashed in or the side of a building defaced with graffiti, but the common connection is the senseless destruction of someone’s property. Just last night, Officer Anna Limbeck stopped a vehicle and charged the five juvenile occupants with damage to property in connection with damage to mailboxes in a residential neighborhood. 

Though not a crime that occurs every day in our community, vandalism is a crime that impacts the quality of life and costs all of us in the repair or replacement cost to damaged property as well as higher insurance premiums. 

In another incident this week, Officer Bob Doerfler investigated the burglary of a park shelter building in one of our city parks. The building contained nothing of value, but the perpetrators broke in and expended a fire extinguisher around the interior of the building and damaged some interior signs. The cleanup and repair of the building will cost hundreds of dollars. This particular shelter has been damaged by similar random acts of vandalism in the past. The case is under investigation, but there are no suspects known at this time. 

One of the best ways to fight this type of random crime is to call and report suspicious activity whenever you see it. People are often a little reluctant to call and report suspicious activity to the police because they are not sure if what they are seeing is illegal activity. I would say to trust your instincts and call 911 to have a squad come by and check it out. Lakeville covers a very large geographic area and our officers are most likely to be in the right place to stop or prevent a crime, when our citizens call and report suspicious activity. By calling, you become an integral part of making Lakeville the safe community that we all enjoy living and working in. 

WEEKLY LPD SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of Oct. 25 to Nov. 1, 2012 

Traffic crashes: 9 Alarms: 12 Animal Calls: 28 Medical Emergency Calls: 22 Thefts: 13 Traffic Stops: 158