DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A doorbell camera captured a Deerfield Beach woman helping deputies locate a suspected car thief hiding in her yard.
Rina Bautista was inside of her home, located near Southwest Seventh Street and Second Avenue, on Monday afternoon when she saw a teenage boy run into her yard and hide between her potted plants.
“This little kid hid between those two pots, and I told him, I’m at the door and said, ‘You better leave,’ and he was like, ‘Please. Please. Please. Don’t. Don’t,” Bautista said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said at the same time she witnessed the man in her yard, deputies were in the area searching for two suspected car thieves who fled from a stolen vehicle.
She called 911 to report the trespasser to which deputies quickly responded to her home, officials said.
The surveillance footage released Friday shows deputies searching the property to no avail before one deputy diverted his attention to the door of the house.
The video also showed the 15-year-old subject’s feet sticking out between the pots.
Authorities said Bautista banged on the door to get the deputy’s attention and point him in the direction of her plants.
“I saw the passing police, and I said, ‘You know that’s the police,’ so he did something wrong, but the police didn’t see it, so he was passing by, passing by,” Bautista said. “So I went to the patio, and the police was, like, on top of my fence, and he’s like, ‘Get inside. Get inside.'” I said, ‘There is a guy hiding in front of my door.'”
The deputy then went to the front of the home.
“They’re supposed to look everywhere,” Bautista said. “I called 911. They’re supposed to communicate, right?”
When the deputy goes to leave, the homeowners knocked on the window and told him to look again.
“They didn’t even see him,” Bautista said. “That was amazing. They were ready to leave when gardener was here knocking on the door and saying, ‘He’s there. Right there.'”
The 15-year-old subject was then located and taken into custody for grand theft auto.
“I have to do my own investigation,” Bautista said.
When asked if she has ever thought of becoming a police officer, Bautista said, “Sometimes.”
His 13-year-old accomplice was arrested the following day and faces car burglary charges.
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