A Hawthorne Avenue neighbor called police just after 9:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 4, to report seeing someone wearing camouflage cargo shorts and no shirt in a neighbor’s car.
A short time later, officers caught up with four young men who were shadow-boxing at Robbins Farm Park. An officer asked the one who was wearing camouflage cargo shorts and a black T-shirt whether he knew that a car on Hawthorne had just been rummaged through. A police report says he responded in a folksy way: “Aw, come on, man.”
Perhaps not folksy enough: The four men were placed in a lineup outside the park, and the neighbor who had reported the break-in earlier picked the “Aw,-come-on” guy — Thomas T. Maloney, 19, of Arlington.
He was charged with Chapter 266 Ss.16A of state law, breaking-and-entering a motor vehicle at night.
Many b-‘n’-e’s
The case — what police call a b-‘n’-e — is but one of many in a series last summer in Arlington.
A report by Patch of the Sept. 4 case tries to paint a broader picture. “In the past month,” the story says, “there have been three car break-ins across town, according to police data, while other communities have seen a significant spike in the crime.”
Accompanying the report was a chart labeled as coming from the Arlington police and saying data are from the department. The chart says “26 incidents” in the period from Aug. 23 through Sept. 6, but it is unclear what the categories are.
If you click the left-facing arrow near the top, the chart takes you to the real source of the data, a service called CrimeReports.
YourArlington asked Capt. Richard Flynn how many car break-ins Arlington has had in the last 30-day period. His response Sept. 11: 24 car break-ins in August and two by that date in September.
“We are working with Crimereports.com to see why there is a discrepancy in the data they are reporting,” he wrote.
This news summary was published Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. YourArlington apologizes for the delay in reporting this story. If you would like to help the publisher provide more timely reports, please contact him here >>
