Dan Bucatinsky: More Than I Can Chew
Teen's text foils robbery
Filed under: Teens, In The News
Even for big kids, staying home alone can sometimes seem a little creepy. But for a thirteen-year-old Ohio girl, a sick day resting at home really did play out like something out of a horror movie or crime show.
When a red pickup pulled into the driveway, Lauren Durnbaugh texted her mom at work and asked if she was expecting someone. When the girl heard someone coming in through an unlocked door, the terrified teen quietly slipped back to her bedroom and hid under the blankets on her bed.
"When I was walking in my room to find somewhere to hide, I figured if they were coming to rob us, you wouldn't just look in someone's bed for something," Durnbaugh told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira on Thursday. "You would be going in their closet and looking everywhere else."
While quaking under the covers with her phone, the girl sent her mother a terrified text: "Mommy omg im scard i think were being robbed im hiding help me!"
While racing home, Durnbaugh's mother called 911 and by all accounts reacted as any mother tiger would, ramming the thieves car in her driveway and wrestling with the female stranger in her house while police arrived. Thanks to Lauren's quick thinking, she was shaken, but unharmed and the criminals were captured.
I'll never figure out the tricks kids know that enable them to text so quickly because it had been me hiding under the covers, the place would have be stripped bare before I'd finished texted "OMG!"
And because I can never remember which button turns off the stupid ringer off on my phone, that would have given my hiding place away right off the bat.
Your<span>Voice</span>
Ask Us Anything About Parenting
Recently Asked
- How to use acrostics can I use acrostics in other ways other than in the form of a poem. Examples please.
- I cant be the only resposible parent that has a child age 3 who is creative enough to escape the house. I have put up multiple barriers and if even on...
- My son and me had the puberty and masturbate talk and some of the question he ask was ?can you show me how to masturbate?? and ?he ask me to tall him ...
TheTalkies:RelatedVideos
-
Distracted Driving - Text Messaging
In this video, Justin McNaull, AAA Public Affairs, discusses the dangers of text messaging while driving. The video explains why texting while driving is so hazardous and offers tips on avoiding the practice.
-
Teen Traffic Fatalities Increase
Chinese automakers are invading Europe from Bulgaria to Britain to Sicily. Despite an overall trend downward, teen traffic deaths jump by several percentage points. Peugeot unveils two B-segment concepts ahead of Geneva. All that and more, plus John McElroy explains what Mazda must do to turn itself around.
-
Rhode Island Bans Underage Sexting
Rhode Island passes a law banning minors from creating and sending erotic photos of themselves-- violators could be listed as sex offenders.
-
Rhode Island Bans Underage Sexting
Rhode Island passes a law banning minors from creating and sending erotic photos of themselves-- violators could be listed as sex offenders.
SitesWeLove
- Site Map
- |
- Staff
- |
- Terms of Service
- |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Trademarks
- |
- Advertise With Us
- |
- About Our Ads
- |
- AOL Downloads
- |
- Contact Us
- |
© Copyright 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Aol Family
ReaderComments (Page 4 of 4)
5-05-2008 @ 4:29AM
M said...I always lock all doors ~ even when I am HOME. My husband used to get upset that I would do that when we were home. But one never knows.
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 5:11AM
gypsygranny said...Smith & Wesson
Learn how to use one
The life you save may be your own.
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 5:06AM
345335426 said..."When I was walking in my room to find somewhere to hide, I figured if they were coming to rob us, you wouldn't just look in someone's bed for something..."
but they wouldn't be suspicious of a bigass lump in the bed? f'n dumb ass.
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 5:14AM
GypsyLee said...Locked doors are for honest people not crooks.
She was very sharp to think to hide under the covers.
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 6:18AM
mike said...wow, you people really don't live in today. you don't needunlocked doors to get into a house. anyone ever hear of lock-picks. or for unsophisticated robbers a crowbar in the jam works to dumb-a$$es
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 10:04AM
JAY said...AS FOR ME AND MINE, (THERE ARE ONLY TWO OF US) OUR HOME IS INSURED BY SMITH AND WESSON!! AND DOORS ARE LOCKED WHETHER IN HOME OR GONE, THATS JUST COMMON SENSE!! iF YOU DONT BELONG IN MY HOME, OR KNOCK ON THE DOOR i PITY THE FOOL THAT ENTERS.
Reply
5-05-2008 @ 10:14AM
JAY said...just because some people know how to "pick" locks, does not mean you should leave the barn door open for them? and YES, in this day and time you NEED to use common sense and keep doors locked at home. Ever hear of all the random home invasion crimes as well as just plain old robbery, rapes, murders, etc....going on every day now adays? And as for me and my home, anyone crashing in uninvited will meet the business end of a .45 or a 12 gauge!! This just happens to be an NRA insured home here!! NRA with a Smith and Wesson back up policy!!!
Reply
5-06-2008 @ 2:53AM
Jennifer said...Sometimes it is actually FASTER to call Mom instead of 911, especially on a cell phone. I just had the horrible experience of having to call 911 on a cell during a little league game. Here in California, you are put through to CHP, then to the sheriffs office THEN I was transferred to fire/rescue! Each time, I had to relay the entire story again. It took 20 minutes to get someone to actually say they had help on the way! The last man I spoke with kept telling me "Calm down, take a breath, I can't understand a word you are saying!" He would ask a question, and then not let me answer! As the League President (standing with me at the time) agreed, if I was any calmer at the time I would have been asleep! I was told that our physical address did NOT exist. (I was standing at the corner, looking at the street signs!) We had an address to the field! They finally put the phone on GPS. The child was bleeding, a possible fracture of his thigh! Thank GOD we had a bunch of military medics, Boy Scouts and Scout leaders that were trained. 911, in this case was useless! We could have stablized him and taken him to the hospital 3 times over before they acted!
Reply
5-07-2008 @ 2:35PM
Alice said...Roar mommy tiger - I am loving the stunt with ramming the theives' truck and wrestling the bad guy! And I am so glad that this child thought to text - very good thinking. As far as the door unlocked thing, it'd never happen in my crime-ridden town, but in many places an ulocked door when someone is home is just the norm.
Reply