There's a REASON This Doesn't Happen in Texas

Crazed thug terrorizes neighbourhood

NEIGHBOURS living on one of Tilehurst's vandal-plagued estates endured an early hours terror ordeal when a thug ran amok during a crazed wrecking spree.

And householders in Combe Road claim they were forced to watch help-lessly as the yob caused thousands of pounds worth of damage because it took police 20 minutes to arrive.

Reading police dispute that and say officers were there in 11 minutes.

This is pretty much immaterial, because there were lots of citizens proles around watching the guy, and no matter when the cops showed up, he had time to do this:

But both sides are agreed the man, thought to be in his early 20s, smashed nine car windows while hurling threats and abuse at terrified onlookers early last Saturday.

Nilesh Kale, who lives in Combe Road, said: "At about 12.30am I heard a lot of people shouting in the street.

"I ran downstairs and saw that the passenger side window of my car had been smashed to pieces.

"This guy was threatening to knife some people who were looking out of their windows.

"I am really concerned about the safety of my family and we are always worried about what happens."

He added: "The police were okay but if they had been here just minutes earlier they would have caught him red-handed.

"There really needs to be some more police presence in the area."

Neighbour Stan Kwiatek said: "I was in my porch having a cigarette when I heard a noise like glass breaking.

"Then I heard shouting coming from down the road and when I looked out I saw this guy on top of a car kicking the windscreen in.

"He then came along to my car and when he spotted me he told me he would come back and burn my house down and he threatened to cut me up.

"He then went and tried to kick someone's door in before he came back across to me again.

"He was probably there for about 10 minutes or more, but the police were so slow in coming, I reckon they took about 20 minutes to arrive."

The man is still being hunted, but Thames Valley Police spokeswoman Nikki Maylin said officers responded to the call in 11 minutes.

She said: "We did arrive within our target set for immediate response."

And I'm sure the residents of Tilehurst are so comforted to hear it. One citizen - ONE - armed with shotgun would have served to A) stop the man and hold him for the cops, B) chase the crazy bastard off before he did more damage, or C) drop him in the street and end the situation. If someone threatened to knife me or burn my house down, I'd choose option C.

Note that none of the above options were available to any of the good citizens of vandal-plagued Tilehurst.

No, they have to wait 11 to 20 minutes for the police to arrive. It's within their target set for immediate response.