The Victim: Amy Guisay
The Crime: Burglary of a motor vehicle
Date: Sunday, April 15
Time: Between 3:30 p.m. and 6:38 p.m.
Location: 900 block of Lawther
Someone smashed and grabbed.
Amy Guisay likes to stay in shape. Like many, she finds White Rock Lake the perfect place for a nice run or bike ride. She is a regular, and on April 15 had gone about her routine as normal. She parked her car and locked it, did some stretching, and set off for a jog around the lake. Guisay knows cars are targets for theft, and hid her belongings as usual.
“The purse was on the floorboard under a towel in the rear of the SUV, with dark tinted windows and people around playing in the park,” she says.
A few hours later, she returned to her car, and the crime was immediately clear. A side rear window was shattered, and glass shards littered the interior. Her purse was gone, along with all her cash, ID, credit cards and checkbook. She immediately called to cancel the credit cards, but someone had already used them a couple of times at gas stations.
The theft left Guisay with a creepy feeling and thoughts of not returning to the park for her runs — she may be considering a treadmill instead.
Dallas Police Officer Mitchell Gatsen of the Northeast Patrol Division says it is always important to be aware of your surroundings, and that some criminals may lie in wait looking for someone who leaves their belongings inside their cars. Whenever possible, it is important to avoid leaving any valuables at all in a car, he says.
“It’s possible someone watched [to see] if she put her belongings in the back after she arrived at the lake,” Gatsen says.
| crime numbers |
$85
Amount of cash a suspect came away with after robbing the Comerica bank on Garland Road, brandishing a machete; he had hoped for $45,000
2
Number of times that Dallas Northeast Patrol officer Rafael Mendoza has been arrested, most recently in late April after brandishing a weapon at a driver in Mesquite; he was previously arrested on a domestic violence charge
900
Block of Winfrey Point Drive where someone broke into a parked car May 13, stealing two iPods, a cell phone, an ATM card and $50 in cash; the owner was on a dock near the lake when he heard the window break but could not get there in time to catch the criminal
Source: Dallas Police Department
