Dallas Man to 911: 'I'm Just Going to Fire Gunshots into the Air to Get Police Here'

Dallas Man to 911: "I'm Just Going to Fire Gunshots into the Air to Get Police Here"

By Eric Nicholson Mon., Dec. 10 2012 at 3:00 PM

Late Friday night, Kevin Koudelka arrived home to discover that one of the windows of his Lake Highlands house had been shattered by a brick, and that whoever had thrown the brick had stepped through the broken window, and had done so numerous times en route from the car to the house. No surprise there. It would have been tough to make off with a gun safe containing seven knives,15,000 rounds of ammunition and a $15,000 diamond ring; a Macbook with charger; an iPhone charger; a pair of binoculars; a $2,000 Louis Vuitton purse; and one dozen bottles of Screaming Eagle wine in a single trip.

Koudelka called 911 at 11:52 p.m. to report the burglary. When no officers had arrived within several minutes, he called again, then a third time at 12:29 a.m., more than a half-hour after his initial cal. During that last call, which is described in a police report, Koudelka suggested that his case was not being given the priority it deserved.

Koudelka: "Do I need to call it in as a burglary in progress or something to get ya'll out here quicker?"

Operator: "The guy who broke into the house, is he there?"

Koudelka:"Yes he's here, he's here. I got him at gunpoint right on the ground. Whatever it takes to get y'all here. This is fucking ridiculous."

Operator: "Okay, you're saying you have a suspect on the ground at gunpoint, sir?"

Koudelka: "Yes, sure, why not? We'll go with that."

Operator: "This is a recorded line."

Koudelka: "That's fine. I don't care. I've called this in three times and no one's showing up. This is ridiculous. I pay taxes. If I don't have a cop here, I'm just going to fire gunshots into the air to get police here."

That did the trick. The dispatcher upgraded the call to a burglary in progress and sent multiple units to the home, sirens blazing.

Upon arrival, officers were surprised at the calmness with which Koudelka answered the door. It didn't strike them as the manner of someone holding a burglar at gunpoint, and, as Koudelka admitted, it wasn't. There had been a burglary, but it had taken place sometime Friday between 7 a.m. and 11:52 p.m. The thief was long gone.

Officers filled out an incident report for the burglary, then a second one for the exaggerated 911 call. Koudelka wasn't cited, but a recording was placed in the DPD property room in case it's needed for further investigation.

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deep-sigh

It's a wonder they even respond to burglary calls with how they investigate them....they don't. DPD could save some money by dumping burglary units and have victims twitter DPD..."hey..all my shit is gone" Gah!

jared.heath

He might have gone a little overboard. I doubt the police would be able to recover anything any more quickly due to their arrival a few hours earlier.

They might have been able to stop an actual in-progress event, even.

BushwoodSmithie

For those of you suggesting calling it in as a burglary in progress, good luck with that if you live in Dallas.

Last month I called Dallas 911 while someone was trying to break into my house while I was there. Took DPD over 15 minutes to arrive.

I live one block from the Central Division police station.

DOCensors

@BushwoodSmithie If you owned a firearm you could have waited for the ambulance to pick them up instead

TSTS

http://www.rklawtexas.com/index.php?page=kevin-koudelka

appears to be a lawyer

Is "seven knives and15,000 rounds of ammunition" a lot? Sounds like a lot.

jared.heath

@TSTS 15,000 rounds of ammunition qualifies as "a lot" with any biases. There are national guard vaults with nowhere near that number of bullets....

DOCensors

@TSTS "a lot" is purely subjective and will depend on your own biases.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

There is a simple solution to this, if you come home and your window is broken out, call 911, tell them you have been robbed and you think they still might be in the house. 1 call the cops are there in less than 5.

Secondly, if this guy has this much important stuff in house that obviously isnt cheap, why doesnt he have a home burglar alarm? Seems to me that you would want to protect your belongings a little better

Glenn

2 Like

@ScottsMerkin Always love it when crime victims are blamed for the crime.

GuitarPlayer topcommenter

@Glenn @ScottsMerkin When you lie to 911 and take resources away from emergency situations then it is a crime. Duh.

GuitarPlayer topcommenter

@ScottsMerkin I dig it. Better safe than sorry.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@GuitarPlayer @Glennso the gist of the evaporated comment was, not to lie to police but if I see my home has been broken into, im not going in with the chance an armed intruder is in there, Im calling 911 and and they can come out and let me know my house is safe to enter

GuitarPlayer topcommenter

@ScottsMerkin Like the second paragraph. The first is douchebaggery.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@GuitarPlayer @ScottsMerkin so I had a reply to guitar player yesterday, that is gone now....wtf happened to it?

GuitarPlayer topcommenter

I know Merk, it happens to me too.

wilme2

2 Like

I think his punishment should be a mandatory police ride-along. Or two. So he can gain a little respect for their job...

wilme2

4 Like

I know he was pissed about the burglary, but he over-reacted. Honestly if he was clear-headed (drink or two maybe?) he should have preferred to calm-down before they arrived - so he could give them better details and get a better result. That last 911 call sounds like it was the exact opposite of being productive- and made the rest of Dallas less safe as officers had to stop what they were doing to rush to his aid.

DOCensors

1 Like

@wilme2 Maybe he hates 911 operators after reading the DO blog.

rick59571

1 Like

always call it in as a burglary in progress. even if you know it happened hrs ago and there's no one around. the fact that there might be someone in the house gets the police to the scene in minutes.

GuitarPlayer topcommenter

1 Like

Try driving through Lake Highlands without seeing a policeman. You can't do it. Those residents are used to the NE substation's presence and act like it's their own private police force.....in a way it is. This guy was acting like a douche bag but he has been conditioned into thinking that because he lives in Lake Highlands his stuff is more important than a killing.