Don't forget to check the crawl space.
A DeLand family were in their beds at about 6:20 a.m. Sept. 17 when they were awakened by loud banging. A member of the family went to see if someone was knocking on the front door, but no one was there.
He “then looked to the side of the house and saw that the door that seals the crawl space off was off its hinges and to the side.” He found a man in the crawl space and asked him to come out, but the fellow refused to do so. The Crawl Space Intruder said “he was being chased by two men and was hiding from them.”
The homeowner called the police, who told the Crawl Space Intruder to come out. He not only didn’t do so, but several times “the subject would throw rocks and dirt at officers when their flashlights were pointed in his direction.”
The Intruder told police his first name and, based on other information they had, they figured out where he lived and called someone at that address. The man they reached by phone said he was the Intruder’s cousin, and said the night before, the Intruder had told his cousin the same story about “being followed by unknown persons.” The cousin gave the officers the Intruder’s full name.
Some first responders from the DeLand Fire Department arrived on-scene to help.
Finally, a little less than two hours later, Crawl Space Intruder came out of his own volition and was put in handcuffs. Firefighters treated lacerations on his nose and left arm. Intruder told them “that he purposefully inflicted the laceration on his left arm to avoid getting caught by law enforcement.”
Even though he’d earlier told lawmen his actual first name, he now gave them made-up first and last names. Officers sent Intruder’s photo to his cousin, who confirmed the guy’s identity.
Crawl Space Intruder was taken to a crisis center, presumably because first responders were concerned about his mental health.
Police trespassed him from the house under which he’d been hiding, and filed several misdemeanor charges against him by affidavit.
I’m pretty sure it’s no fun waking up to someone banging on the floor of your house.
— By Keith Allen, based on local police-agency reports
