GROSSE POINTE FARMS, Mich. – When a Grosse Pointe Farms teenager looked across the street and saw something suspicious at his friend's house, he helped stop two thieves from getting away with a family's valuables.
The teenager noticed two people at his friend's house carrying a backpack filled with stuff that was spilling all over the place.
He immediately sent his friend a text, and his friend called the police.
As the 911 call was being made, a veteran Grosse Pointe Farms police officer saw a pickup truck that didn't look right. About a mile away from the home, the officer trusted his gut instinct and pulled the truck over, finding a picture of the homeowner's family in the back seat.
"An alert teenager's walking home from school, he's just finished his midterm exams, and he sees a man coming out of his buddy's house," Grosse Pointe Farms police Lt. Rich Rosati said.
Police released the 911 calls after the teenager's friend reported the robbery.
"Someone just robbed my house," he told the operator.
"Did you see the subject?" the operator asked.
"I did not see the subject, my friend across the street did," he said.
There were two men in the pickup truck when the Grosse Pointe Farms officer pulled it over.
"What kind of vehicle?" the operator asked. "Did they leave in a vehicle?"
"A white pickup truck," the caller said.
"Dispatch comes back with, 'We just had a 911 call of a home invasion that just occurred: Two white males in a white Ford pickup truck,'" Rosati said. "(The sergeant) said, 'I have two white males in a white Ford pickup truck right here.'"
The family's stolen belongings were discovered in the back seat of the pickup truck.
"My mom's jewelry, all of her jewelry boxes have been broken into, watches, cash, clothes," the caller said.
In the end, the teenager and the veteran police officer were working together without knowing it.
"It's the alertness of that officer, it's the alertness of that boy who doesn't hesitate when he sees something he knows is not right," Rosati said. "That's what makes a community safe. The police can only do so much. We only have so many eyes and ears, but the community has way more eyes and ears than we do."
The driver of the pickup truck told police he didn't have a key to the truck, so he bent down to pick up a screwdriver to turn the truck off. He also told police the gear shift wasn't working, and the truck lurched forward, forcing police to protect themselves. But there were no other incidents during the arrest.
Brian John Patterson, 40, and Anthony Edward Marino, 35, were arrested and charged with first-degree home invasion.
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