Former Fire Chief Dancyzk helps capture car thief

Dancyzk had the suspect at gunpoint in his driveway on Porter’s Chapel.

Yesterday in the late afternoon a black Nissan Rogue was stolen from the Circle K on Frontage and Indiana. The suspect took off with the vehicle but didn’t get very far.

“We were in the courtyard and Theresa said there’s someone in the driveway,” explained former Fire Chief Craig Dancyzk. “He was parked a little funny, a little on the grass in front of my utility trailer. I said ‘Man, what’s up?’ He said, “Man, I’m in the wrong driveway” so I said, okay.”

After a couple of minutes the man was still there and Dancyzk got a funny feeling about it so he grabbed a weapon from the house while his wife called 911. “They (911) asked if the car was a black Nissan, she was like, ‘yup.’ They told her to shelter in place, the car is stolen. I had already got my 44 Magnum and was out there telling him to get on the ground, the police were on their way.”

Nissan Rogue

He did not get on the ground. Instead he sidestepped and started down Porter’s Chapel towards Moon Mist Drive. “It took a few minutes but the police got here. I pointed the unit towards Enchanted Hills but they didn’t find him. The police unit comes back and asked what he looked like and as I described him, talking to the police officer in my driveway, I was like, Damn, there he is!” Unbelievably the suspect was walking back up Porter’s Chapel to where he abandoned the vehicle.

The suspect had gone to Raintree Drive and attempted to break into a house there, according to Dancyzk.

The VPD officer took the suspect into custody. “He was kicking the doors and the windows, just kicking the inside of that car,” said Dancyzk.

The people who had their car stolen showed up on the scene and were able to retrieve their vehicle.

Investigator Jerrold Hayes with the VPD said in a text response, “Suspect information will become available as the investigation continues.”