Lee’s Summit police catch alleged business thief in 95 seconds

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (KCTV) - Police were dispatched to the scene of an attempted store break in on Monday and stopped the burglar in his tracks. Not every story ends with the bad guy getting caught but the Lee’s Summit Police Department describes this as one of the exceptions.

Officers were dispatched in the early hours of Monday morning to a Dollar General on Northeast Todd George Parkway for a glass break. The thief attempted to steal about $50 worth of food and drinks from the store.

“Here in Lee’s Summit, we’re pretty lucky. Our response time is usually four minutes which in hindsight is pretty darn quick, but 95 seconds is pretty amazing,” Amanda Geno, LSPD community interaction officer, said.

Officers were dispatched at 2:14 a.m. Monday morning. According to store employees, the suspect tried to break open a glass cellphone case, took a reusable bag, and grabbed bottles of gatorade and other items. The officer apprehended the male suspect just as he was leaving the building.

“We can’t be in every place at one time but this is just the perfect circumstance of an officer being out and being present in our district and being able to respond pretty quickly,” Geno said.

The key to quick response was an officer doing routine patrol nearby. He took the call and got there in just over 1.5 minutes.Officers are assigned to different districts where they are on the move, checking on businesses, and looking for suspicious activity.

“Our goal is to always hopefully prevent crime and this is one of those where we weren’t exactly able to prevent it, but we were able to hopefully hold somebody able for this crime,” Geno said.

Detectives are investigating this case and charges will come down once the prosecutor reviews it.

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