Dave Eggers - Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever?

— It was cause for concern.

— But he hadn’t harmed anyone.

— He had endangered the patrons by jumping from table to table. And he had stolen from the restaurant.

— What did he steal? It was syrup, correct?

— Yes. It was not a high-value item, but it was theft, and it’s our job to look into any theft.

— So what’s next? Was everyone looking for him?

— Yes. The three other squad cars on patrol began looking for him.

— By what, triangulating the neighborhood?

— We were looking within a five-mile radius for any cars driving erratically, any men fitting his description, or for any irregularities in general.

— But this was a Friday night. I expect there would be dozens of young men acting like asses.

— Not exactly like this. When the man is alone, it’s cause for more concern. A bunch of teenagers, or a bunch of guys in general, it’s one thing. But a man alone, without a shirt, jumping around a Denny’s and stealing syrup — it’s cause for special concern.

— So you’re looking for him, too?

— Yes, after I took statements at the restaurant, I began a search.

— Without any identifying characteristics.

— Well, I had a description of the young man. I knew he was Amerasian. And he left wearing an apron.

— You know no one says “Amerasian” anymore.

— Listen. I know these kids. I was in Vietnam for Christ’s sake. We said Amerasian for years. I can’t keep up with terminology.

— So you drive around looking for him.

— Yes.

— For how long?

— Forty-five minutes, an hour.

— Then what?

— Then we received a call from his mother.

— What did she say?

— That he had come home, ranting and raving, and that he’d left with a big knife.

— Did you go to the house?

— I didn’t, but another officer did. He took her statement and shared that information with the other officers.

— So now you’re looking for a young man in an apron, no shirt, and carrying a big knife.

— Yes. And he took her car, so now we knew he was driving a blue Honda Accord.

— But you didn’t find it.

— No. Then we got a call from a young woman’s house.

— You remember her name?

— No. It might have been Lily.

— Lily Dubuchet.

— Yes, I believe that was it.

— Who called?

— Her father called because the young man had been there. He’d broken the large window in the house. Apparently he heaved a cinder block through the picture window in the living room. When the family came to the window, he was breaking the windows on their cars.

— With what?

— A brick at first, then large stones he took from the driveway. Some kind of decorative stones that he was throwing through the windows and windshields of their cars.

— So the father called after he’d left?

— No, he was still there when the father called.

— Okay. I didn’t know that part.

— So two squad cars turned around and headed to the house.

— Were you one of those cars?

— I was.

— And when you got there?

— The young man was gone. I stayed to take a statement, and the other officer went in the direction the young man was last seen.

— He was driving his mom’s car.

— Yes. He left and sped down Willow, toward the highway.

— Did he threaten anyone at this young woman’s house?

— I don’t know.

— But you do know.

— You’re asking if he directly threatened anyone?

— Yes.

— He broke a plate-glass window.

— And was anyone harmed?

— Glass splintered throughout the room. Everyone was struck by glass fragments.

— And that’s it?

— As far as I recall.

— What about the knife?

— What about it?

— Did he threaten anyone with the knife at that house?

— Not that I recall.

— So he breaks some windows and then drives off.

— Yes.

— And you go in pursuit.

— Another officer went looking for his car.

— You stayed to get statements.

— I stayed for a few minutes.

— Until?

— Until I got word on the radio that he was back home.

— So he went from Lily’s house back home.

— Yes, apparently.

— So you went there.

— Yes. Three squad cars arrived at about the same time.

— And then what?

— We approached the front door and the mother came out.

— And did what?

— She said that her son had entered the house and had gone into the basement and locked himself inside.

— Okay. So there are how many cops at this point?

— Four.

— Four cops. And there’s one man in the basement.

— Yes.

— At this point are you aware of what size man he is?

— Yes. We knew at that point he was about five seven, 150 pounds.

— Not a large man.

— No.

— So you four officers, you do what?

— Well, first we went inside and knocked on the door to the basement.

— And?

— And he told us to go fuck ourselves.

— Did you try to open the door?

— It was locked and it wasn’t procedure to break it down.

— Why not?

— Well, he was armed, and we didn’t know at that point if he’d further armed himself. His mother said that he had been acting erratically and had pushed her against a wall. So we felt his behavior was unpredictable.

— So you called more cops?

— We called the Monterey Peninsula Regional Special Response Unit, yes.

— This is a SWAT team.

— Yes.

— Tell me about the decision to call them.

— Well, SWAT team officers are trained for hostage situations and—

— Were there hostages in the house?

— We weren’t sure.

— But did you have any evidence to suggest he’d taken a hostage?

— Not hard evidence, no.

— Did you ask the mother if her son had somehow snuck a hostage into the house?

— No, we did not.

— Did she tell you that he might have? Did she see some other person in the house?

— No.

— So I don’t know where you get the idea that he might have had a hostage.

— We have to prepare for any eventuality. I’m not saying that a hostage situation was foremost on our minds. But it was one of the possibilities. Hostages aren’t a prerequisite for the participation of the SWAT team.

— Okay, so at this point, you’re still standing by the basement door or what?

— No. At that point, we removed the mother from the home and fell back to the driveway.

— You fell back? Like this is some great battle. Jesus.

—

— You set up a perimeter or what?

— We did.

— But you’re still thinking that the threat is one man — a small man with a knife, sitting in his basement.

— At that point we didn’t know what he was armed with or what he was capable of. He’d done some very erratic things, including assaulting his mother.

— Was there evidence of an assault on his mother?

— He pushed her against a wall.

— Were there blood, cuts, bruises?

— No.

— So we have a man who pushed his mom against a wall.

— Yes. And he was armed with a knife.

— And did he threaten his mother with that knife?

— I can’t recall. But if he assaults someone, and he’s holding a knife, I have to assume that’s assault with a deadly weapon.

— But he didn’t assault her with the knife.

— He assaulted her and he was holding a knife.

— But did he threaten his mother with a knife?

— I can’t really recall.

— You can’t recall. Listen, you’ve been honest and forthright so far. You should stay that way. I know it’s been a while since I reminded you of this, but you’re chained to a post.