Neighbor stops trailer theft, tangles with suspect

VANCOUVER, Wash. (KOIN) — An attempt to steal a trailer from the driveway of a Vancouver home was thwarted by neighbors and caught on surveillance cameras.

Around 3:31 p.m. Wednesday, a pickup truck backed into the driveway of a home in the 1600 block of NE 107th and began hooking up the trailer to the pickup.

The woman who owns the trailer, Angela (who asked her last name not be used), told KOIN 6 News she and her husband were both at work when the trailer was nearly stolen.

She saw the video from their surveillance cameras, then took cell phone video of it and posted it online “to get it out there. Facebook moves pretty quick.”

Below is surveillance video provided to KOIN 6 News.

Neighbor Bob Boltz saw the pickup pull up and then drove his vehicle next to the truck, police said. The suspect driver took off but left behind the accomplice. Boltz then tackled the accomplice and briefly tangled in the street, but the accomplice managed to run away.

However, the accomplice left behind a shoe and his cell phone.

“I think it’s crazy that someone would actually come out in broad daylight and try and steal someone’s trailer,” said Boltz’s daughter-in-law Dayna Nichols.

She told KOIN 6 News her father-in-law was heading home after picking up Nichols’ sister from school when he saw the pickup truck back into the driveway.

He “didn’t recognize the truck and didn’t recognize who the people were,” she said, so he drove his own truck next to the suspect. He “hopped out of the truck, ran up and tackled the kid.”

As he did that the suspect drove off.

“So I pulled up to find out what the hell was going on, and that’s when the pickup took off, I mean big time fast, and this kid jumped up and took off running.”

Boltz and the accomplice fought in the street. “There’s basically a big mess of them rolling around hitting each other,” she said.

‘What the hell did you do that for?’

Boltz told KOIN 6 News they were coming back from grocery shopping at Walmart when he noticed the pickup backed up in the driveway.

“So I pulled up to find out what the hell was going on, and that’s when the pickup took off, I mean big time fast, and this kid jumped up and took off running,” he said.

He tackled the accomplice twice and then got hit in the side of the head. “I said, ‘What the hell did you do that for?'”

Boltz said he yelled for his daughter to call 911, but his phone was in his back pocket.

“So she grabs my phone, kicks the guy in the head, and then tries to call 911.”

He said he was trying to get the accomplice’s hands behind his back, but it didn’t work. “I’m 57-years-old. I mean, I ain’t no spring chicken anymore.”

Dayna Nichols said her father-in-law got punched in the eye and hurt his leg in the fracas, she said.

“I’m really proud of him because he actually got involved instead of being a bystander,” Nichols said.

Vancouver police responded with a K-9, but no one was located. The case remains active and 2 suspects are being sought.

The neighborhood

The families are long-time friends, she said, who share outings and keep an eye on each other all the time. “We’re just a big neighborhood unit.”

“I really hope he gets caught and that the neighborhood continues to look out for one another,” she said.  “We’re a really close neighborhood that if we continue to watch out, it will stop all this.”

Boltz said the reason he stepped in was because he’s known his neighbors a long time. “I’d do it for any one of my neighbors.”

Angela said she wants the bad guys caught.

“I want them to go to jail. That was my family, my property. He violated that,” she said. “I’m a very strong advocate for the homeless and people who need help. But if you need help, ask for it.”