Here's my strange story for the year out of the way in April...
While I was driving up to Wal-Mart yesterday, the car in front of me stopped suddenly and a dude jumped out to grab a purse from an unattended cart (the lady was loading items in the trunk, but went to put something in the front of the car). He grabbed her purse and through it into the car, the lady turned around and started shouting at them, so the driver left quicker than the guy could get back in the car. The lady gave chase to the guy running and after a moment of "Am I really seeing what I'm seeing" I took off after the car determined to get the license plate.
I chased the car out of the parking lot. I was kinda stupid - I was going way over the speed limit and ran a red light (it had just turned, so nothing too risky) to keep up with them. I had called 911 and given them the make/model of the car and the description of the guy while trying to keep up and get the plate. Then, the car cut off a minivan and turned down a side street - I couldn't follow because of the minivan, but it did give me the chance to read his plate and give it to the police. The irony is that I have no idea what it is anymore. I read it to the operator twice and can't remember it at all now. The operator told me to return to the Walmart, find the woman, and wait for the police. So I went back, but she was gone.
When the police arrived, they took my statement and told me that the woman still hadn't reported her purse stolen. They'd caught the car just a few blocks from where I lost them. He'd doubled back to get his buddy. They wanted me to do a driveby ID of where they caught the guys, so I got my first trip in the back of a police car (I took a pic and facebooked it with little to no explanation, my family wasn't amused). Anyway, they drove me past and the woman finally called in while I was giving the ID. After that, I was done and they took me back to my car at Walmart.
It was pretty cool, though I feel a bit silly for speeding down 7th and running the light. I don't think I was being careless, I wouldn't have done that if there'd been more traffic, but it still was dumb to do. Anyway, the lady got her purse back and the guys were caught red handed. So all is well and I've got a fun story to tell for a few weeks.
