|
Kyle and Kevin Bakken were just trying to get their stuff back. They weren't trying to catch a suspected arsonist. But that's just what the twin 17-year-old brothers did.
Kyle had just returned home from umpiring a baseball game at Blossom Hill Park on May 22 when he realized that his and his brother's backpacks were missing from the back of his pickup truck.
The brothers returned to the park, where they quickly spotted a man wearing Kyle's unique Mexican bag. They hopped over a fence, approached him and asked him to return their belongings. When he refused, they tried to take the backpacks. They began scuffling with him and shouted for help. Several parents from a nearby baseball game ran over and helped pin the man down until police arrived.
Story over, right?
Not quite.
Sgt. Tam McCarty of the Los GatosMonte Sereno Police Department was at the scene of an arson on Hillbrook Drive—someone had ignited school papers and notebooks near a tree and fence—when he got a call that a fight was in progress at Blossom Hill Park.
The sergeant arrived at the park to find about four to six people pinning the backpack thief down. When officers tried to sit him up, he "started going crazy," kicking and flailing his arms. He was finally calmed down, and officers identified him as 24-year-old Brett Cowan.
McCarty said Cowan's apparent mental instability and the fight's proximity to the fire were too odd to be unrelated.
"I thought, 'This is way too much of a coincidence,' " McCarty said. "We did a history check on him and found out he was on probation for arson."
Officers asked the Bakken boys if they were missing any binders, books or other school papers. Kyle said he was. He was transported to the scene of the arson and positively identified his papers.
McCarty said Kevin and Kyle may have prevented a bad situation from getting worse. Cowan later admitted to starting a fire May 20 in Blossom Hill Park, and investigators believe he may be linked to one more. No injury or serious property damage resulted from any of the fires, but McCarty said that Cowan's case had the earmarks of a serial arsonist and could have led to serious destruction in the future.
"The boys were diligent in looking for their backpacks and were brave enough to confront the bad guy," McCarty said. "In my opinion, these two boys are heroes because they saw something was wrong and they took action."
But Kyle, who said Cowan hit him in the face at one point, downplayed their heroism. He said they didn't ever worry about their personal safety when confronting the backpack thief.
"That really didn't enter our minds at all," Kyle said. "We were just trying to get our stuff back."
|
