Fishing trip turns into burglary stop
“It was 1971. I was working for the Sheriff’s Department in Chambers County. We had one day off each week. I was driving with my son to go fishing, and I noticed this house. I remembered it had been broken into several times. I saw a van near the back door. So I stopped, and I told my son, ‘Get under the dash. Don’t move until I get back.’
“I saw a guy coming out the back door carrying a television. I said, ‘How are you today, sir?’ He said, ‘Just fine. I’m taking my TV to get fixed.’ I wasn’t wearing a uniform, but I did have my badge. I walked the guy to the back door, and I saw it was kicked in. That’s when he broke and ran.
“I chased after him. I had my cowboy boots on, and it was kind of muddy. But I managed to catch up to him. I grabbed him by the shoulders. He jerked around and knocked me over. Then he jumped on top of me. He was trying to grab my weapon. One of the neighbors saw what was happening. He came running, and he hit the guy in the head with an iron pipe.
“The guy rolled off me and took off again. As he reached the van, a lady came out of the house and jumped in the front seat. It was his wife. I had already called for backup, and he was coming down the road. When the burglar pulled out, they hit right on. The guy I was chasing had a hurt leg, so he couldn’t get away. He was locked up for burglary and assaulting a police officer.
“Well, about 25 years later, after I left the department and was working security for Baytown schools, I got a call from the same dispatcher on duty the day of that burglary. She said, ‘You’ll never guess who came to see you today.’ She gave me his name, and I said, ‘You’re kidding me?’
“It was the same guy. He had just gotten out of jail, and he asked if I was around. She told him I had gone to Massachusetts, and that I was working for the highway patrol up there. It was quick thinking on her part. He was a big old boy. So for a long time after that, I kept looking over my shoulder.”
— Larry Stratmann
After serving in the Navy during the Vietnam War, Larry had a long career in police and security work. In 2010, he retired as assistant security chief for Goose Creek CISD.
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