Anaheim officer’s
SEAT-OF-THE-PANTS
thinking SAVES Oregon family’s
Disneyland vacation
By: Greg Hardesty, BehindtheBadgeOC.com
The auto burglary call came in
around 12:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving
Day.
Anaheim PD Officer Dave Garcia,
that had began their Disney vacation
Monday of Thanksgiving week.
stock — was wishful thinking, at best.
and the Singers’ three children
family.
a relative’s house in Torrance for
wearing an Air Force T-shirt and
discovered their SUV had been
when he was 23.
Dan Singer, his wife and mother,
who works on the Resort Policing
were getting ready to drive up to
Disney, responded.
Thanksgiving dinner when they
in the Paradise Pier parking structure
burglarized.
Team at a substation at Downtown
A black Chevy Suburban parked
had been broken into.
— let alone one that had a rear seat in
Garcia felt bad for the Singer
He noticed that Dan, 45, was
learned he had joined the military
Having great respect for those
In addition to feeling violated, the
who serve as well as veterans, Garcia
Without the back seat, Singer
some heartless miscreants ruining a
family was in a real pickle.
got especially peeved at the notion of
gain entry and steal the two third-row
couldn’t safely (or legally) drive
family’s holiday vacation.
thieves to sell the pricey seats on Ebay
begin the 13-hour trek back home the
The Chevy Suburban belonged
And since it was Turkey Day,
The thief or thieves had jimmied
open the back window of the SUV to
So he thought, Hmmm…
passenger seats. There’s a market for
his family to Torrance — let alone
and other online shopping sites.
Sunday after Thanksgiving.
officer who spent the first eight years
to a family from Eugene, Oregon
finding a Chevy dealer that was open
with two boys, ages 12 and 4.
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California Police Chief | www.californiapolicechiefs.org
Garcia, 38, a 16-year veteran
of his career at Orange PD, is married