Stranger Unwelcome in Official’s Neighborhood

SANTA ANA —  City Councilman Robert L. Richardson thought something was wrong when he saw a stranger on a mountain bike, carrying a drill and a wall clock, in his neighbor’s yard at 7:10 a.m. Wednesday.

Richardson, who had just pulled out of his driveway on Parton Street, stopped and approached the man, who said he was on his way to do yard work but had become lost.

Thinking that the story was unlikely, Richardson asked the man to wait while he made a call on his car phone “to check something out.” The man complied until he apparently realized Richardson was calling the police. Then he fled on the bike.

The councilman, driving his blue Plymouth Voyager and calling police, began a chase that stretched over 10 blocks.

“He was pedaling as fast as his feet would go,” Richardson said.

Near Birch and Highland streets, the man abandoned his bike and fled on foot.

Richardson said he wasn’t there when police caught the suspect nearby, on Sycamore Street. But he identified the man, who was then taken into custody on suspicion of trespassing.

“It certainly was an interesting way to start the morning,” Richardson said. “I don’t think he’ll be coming back to our block for a while.”