IT WAS A MONDAY MORNING and I had just checked the optical to make sure all the spots were full. A gentleman in his mid-60s came in with a bag and began asking one of my opticians about polarized lenses. Shortly after, I saw him leave and my optician standing there with her mouth open, looking kind of confused. She said, “I think he just took some frames.” I ran over to a display and immediately saw five holes where there had been a full rack five minutes before.
Without thinking, I yelled for the front desk to call the police and bolted after him. He realized I was behind him and ran across the street and rounded a corner. I didn’t want to lose him so I followed and slammed right into a plain-clothes detective who was a patient of ours.
I yelled: “Get him! He has my frames!”
He chased him down our main street, tackled him and handcuffed him. I returned to my office, and about five minutes later a different officer came in and laid five frames on the counter.
He asked me what I wanted to do.
“Prosecute him,” I said.
The officer was elated because most people will not follow through once they get their merchandise back. My detective friend came in about a week later and said the perpetrator had apparently done this multiple times before and he had been given two years in jail.
The detective had asked him why he did it, and he said “I’ve got bills to pay.”
When I went home and told my husband, he was like: “What is wrong with you? What if he had a gun or a weapon? Don’t ever do that again!”
All I could say was, “He took my frames!”
No one takes my frames! — Kathy M., Western Springs, IL
