Local story that has blown up over the past couple days.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories...628&TextPage=1

Cliffs:

- Teenage pranksters knocked on back door, rang front door bell, and lurked in dude's yard
- Homeowner chases them down and tackles one of the kids (14 years old)
- Homeowner forces kid to wait in house until cops arrive
- Homeowner now facing charges

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[SIZE=3]Teen prank ends in scuffle, man's arrest[/SIZE]

Homeowner charged after tackling teen he says trespassed at his home

By PAUL GRONDAHL, Staff writer
First published in print: Wednesday, July 21, 2010

BETHLEHEM -- A teenage prank at a Saturday night sleepover in the Haswell Farms development went awry and ended with a startled homeowner's arrest.

The Delmar resident, in his underwear after having gone to bed, tackled one of the fleeing boys in his yard and waited for police to arrive, only to be charged with endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment. He was issued an appearance ticket to answer the misdemeanor and violation charges in Bethlehem Town Court on Aug. 3.

Not charged were the teens, who allegedly pounded on his back door, rang his front doorbell and skulked around his property in the dark -- punctuated by a torrent of profanities from the slow-footed boy the man caught and kept inside his house until the cops got there.

"It's an awkward situation," said Daniel P. Van Plew, 37, vice president and general manager of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a Tarrytown-based biopharmaceutical company with a manufacturing facility in East Greenbush. He declined to discuss his arrest further and offered this account of the Saturday night dust-up through his attorney, Peter Gerstenzang.

Shortly after 10 p.m., with his wife, 3-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son all upstairs in their beds, Van Plew remembered he had left paperwork on a dining room table and went downstairs in his underwear to move it to his desk so it would be secure.

That's when he caught a glimpse out a window of a shadowy figure standing close to his house, along with some other movement out front.

"It was pretty scary. He had no idea what was going on," Gerstenzang said. As he headed to the garage to investigate, he heard pounding on his back door and ringing of his front doorbell. As he disabled a home alarm system and opened a side door off the garage, he heard muffled voices saying, "Go, go!"

Van Plew then yelled: "What are you doing? Are you trying to rob me?"

When he saw four figures bolt across his yard, he gave chase, caught up to the slowest one and tackled him. It turned out to be a 14-year-old boy, who began cursing at Van Plew, Gerstenzang said.

He got the kid inside his house and told him to sit on the floor and called police.

"He was very angry at being tackled and was very profane," Gerstenzang said, adding that the teen spewed crude sexual remarks about Van Plew's wife. At one point, the boy said he had a knife in his pocket and threatened to use it on Van Plew, but it turned out to be a cellphone.

Gerstenzang said the 14-year-old suffered scrapes and bruises from being tackled, and Van Plew offered to treat the injuries with antiseptic but the boy refused.

Gerstenzang denied that Van Plew threatened the teenager with violence if he tried to escape before police arrived, as the teen allegedly told police in a statement, according to an e-mail from a town insider who calls himself "the Delmar tipster."

Bethlehem police were not available late Tuesday to discuss the case.

Gerstenzang said that Van Plew later learned the four teenagers were at a sleepover in his suburban development of $350,000 to $400,000 homes off Feura Bush Road and may have been engaged in a prank to scare homeowners.

"They succeeded," Gerstenzang said, noting that his client remains rattled.

"It's a nightmare for him," the attorney said. "He's got two little kids asleep, these four figures are moving around his house in the dark, pounding on his door, ringing his doorbell, and he's frightened. Under the circumstances, I think his reaction was pretty moderate."

stupid kid, how the hell do you let an old man catch up to you?

lucky for the kids this dude didnt have any guns

 

Originally Posted by Glo4m

lucky for the kids this dude didnt have any guns

qft

Half of oters would have shot him.

This is an example of what is wrong in our country

kid is lucky to be alive. idiots

 

Originally Posted by The_Waz

Yea when I was a kid, we did this to one guy who ran out into the middle of the street in his underwear with a shotgun and shot a bullet into the air. Gotta say it was a pretty scary moment, thank god he gave up looking after that

shotguns generalyl fire shells, not bullets... altho rifled barrel shotguns are getting popular according to wiki

friend had a similar experience after going into someone's garage to steal beer...

the only time we did this shit when i was a kid was to this old man who the neighborhood was convinced was trapping and killing cats. A bunch of people's cats went missing and someone passed around flyers saying they thought it was this one guy. He was a car salesman and kept new cars parked in his driveway and complained to the neighbors about cat paw prints. So every couple of months me and my friends would go harrass him a little bit.

In retrospect, it was really dumb and a great way to get ourselves shot.

Why the fuck did he take off after the kid? Yea the kids lucky he didnt get shot but the home owner is lucky it was just some 14 year kids and not someone who had a gun or knife.

 

Originally Posted by jbgoree

Our society is so fucking backwards.

Kid should be in trouble NOT the homeowner.

How about, no one should be in trouble. Kid's parents should whoop his ass at home like good parents do, and the guy should have a beer with the other dad and talk about all the chicks they'd rather be banging than their wives. Problem solved. wtf is wrong with us now.

Thats why here you just shoot them. No questions asked.

 

Originally Posted by ginwilly

I did stupid shit like this when I was 12,13. If I was the one who got caught I would be praying for them to call the cops instead of my Dad. And yeah, this guy and my Dad would have instantly bonded had he handled it this way because that's exactly how he would have done it.

In my early 20's living just outside of detroit I used to lay on my roof during devil's night with a bb gun and scare the kids that came into my yard. I was still almost as stupid at that age but still understood how the teen mind worked.

holy shit, a normal human being that understands what a teenager is.

omg teenagers ringing my doorbell/on my lawn. better get my gun! I hate people so much

Kinda similar story from awhile back where the owner did shoot first and ask questions later

http://www.memphisghosthunters.com/p...ch-8-24-06.pdf

 

Originally Posted by Tread

Kinda similar story from awhile back where the owner did shoot first and ask questions later

http://<a href="http://www.memphisgh...-24-06.pdf</a>

did a google, guy got 19 years... he shot at them when they were in the car in the street, totally fucked up

 

Originally Posted by Niceguy

tbh if im running away I'd rather the guy is holding a shotgun and not a handgun.

Not me most people can't hit shit with a hand gun, especially a moving (albeit "slow-footed") target. Shotgun you're gonna be picking at least SOME pellets out of your ass.