Bucktown man confronts alleged package thief
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A daring confrontation was caught on camera in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood when a man said he saw someone stealing packages from a person's front door.
Instead of just calling police, Gene Pierson walked up to the alleged thief with his cell phone camera rolling.
The burglary took place near Damon and Dickens after 4 p.m. Friday. What's striking is how casual the alleged burglar simply walked up to the doorstep and then just takes off with the packages.
"I'm making a delivery," proclaimed the thief, but that's not what was going on. It was a bold-faced robbery. In the middle of the day Friday, in Bucktown, a man is seen stealing packages off of a home's front steps and it was all caught, both on the church's surveillance video and on Gene Pierson's cell phone.
"While I was working I saw a gentleman walking down the street that looked very suspicious. I kept my eye on him," Pierson said.
Pierson is an employee at Covenant Presbyterian Church across the street from where the unidentified burglar decided to strike. With his camera rolling Pierson confronted the thief, getting a shot of the man's license plates, which he has handed over to police.
"I live in the neighborhood," he said. "I work in the neighborhood and I care about the people around me. It's the right thing to do."
"It says a lot about how desperate these criminals are," said Steve Jensen.
Jensen is the president of the Bucktown Community Organization. He says, more police are needed to patrol the streets, and more people willing to get involved and keep an eye out in the neighborhood for would-be thieves looking for the right place to strike.
"They know that a lot of the people in this neighborhood are at work, away from their homes and the opportunity is there for them to steal stuff either off the front steps or kick in the door and find whatever they can find within a minute," Jensen said.
Police said the value of the stolen packages was less than $50. The investigation continues.
