| Lockyer praises boy, 911 for quick work | |
| By
Ken McNeill Staff Writer |
|
| Two men were caught by police and have
pleaded guilty to burglary after a Pleasanton 11-year-old calls 911, hides until police arrives. |
Pleasanton - Kathryn "Billie" Billings, a 30-year veteran, no nonsense Pleasanton dispatcher with a soft heart for kids, took the call from a frightened, 11-year-old boy.
He was home alone after school. He told her two strange men had come in a red truck and were breaking into his house.
Instead of panicking, the boy remembered what his parents had taught him. He called 911, stayed calm and let Billings and another dispatcher, Alda Nash, keep him out of harm's way until officers arrived and arrested two suspects.
"It was entirely a joint effort," said Margaret Mary Balch, the dispatchers' boss, after they and the boy received commendations Tuesday from California Attorney General Bill Lockyer.
But no one was thinking about awards when one of the two men appeared at a back window at the boy's house on Paragon Circle, which prompted his 911 call. Whenever children are involved, matters become more urgent, said Billings and Nash.
The transcript of the boy's call tells a dramatic story.
"Someone's breaking into my house," the boy told Billings, who answered the call at 4:55 p.m. Sept. 10.
Billings quickly coaxed the boy to tell her where he was in the house and what was happening.
"Are these big people?" Billings asked, hoping that the two were just mischievous teenagers.
"They're adults," the boy replied, adding a moment later in a high pitched voice: "I'm really scared."
Billings directed the boy into the nearest room that could be locked - a bathroom - and told him to take the cordless phone. As the boy spoke to Billings, one of the burglars entered the bedroom and stood just a few feet from the door, behind which the boy hid. "He heard them going through his room," Balch said.
The boy told Billings that the two were in a red truck and wore blue work clothes, remarkable detail from a scared child, the dispatcher said.
Pleasanton Officers Mike Elerick and Van Rader arrived within minutes and arrested Jeremy Lacy 21, of Ben Lomond and Ryan Rich 21, of Felton.
Both pleaded guilty this week to one count each of first-degree burglary. Both will be sentenced to two years in prison, of which they must serve 85 percent, said Deborah Striker, Alameda County deputy district attorney.
As for the 11-year-old, said Billings: "Everything he said was right on the money."
Valley Times - Wednesday, September 29, 1999