I was on the Stevens Creak Trail today when a 6'2" African American man on the walk with a cell phone in his hand stopped me to ask what road this was. Not thinking anything of it as he was very calm, I said this is Central Expressway, he then said what is the road down there motioning towards the bay and I said that is Central Ave. He thought I was playing games with him. I wanted to continue my walk and left him with me climbing the stairs at the bridge crossing Central. I walk fast for health reasons 6 MPH on average, he had no chance to catch up with me if he desired without running. But again I knew nothing to even fear him. It was a chance encounter. When I crossed on the rest of the trail on my return leg, there were police on motorcycles on the trail. I mentioned I had seen this guy, they showed me his picture and it was him. I showed them the encounter point which was not where they were looking.

If he was known to be on the trail why were not all the entrances locked down. Why was I allowed on the trail with a known person with a gun who uses it. I was lucky he did not abduct or me worse, as he was lost. And that cell phone demanding someone on the other end to pick him up. Lets hope that did not happen.

I hope they got him, had the police asked me first off with this incident they would have had a 10 minute window. Because I had to bring it up it moved it to a 30 to 45 minute window.

The police should not be tight lipped about such things as the trail is full of places people can hide. It is alert citizens like myself that see and hear things and I for one am with the police on this as I am a risk mitigation manager.

To the commenter " C. P" who commented before me - PLEASE use proper grammar and punctuation, as it is EXTREMELY hard to read you'r comment. I had to re-read it several times and go back to try to figure out certain words you spelled wrong. I think you need to go back to elementary school and touch up on your writing skills.
Other then that, I hope the MVPD catches this criminal and they take him off the street for good and lock him up, where he belongs.

"See More on Patch

Armed Robbers Sought After Theft at El Camino KFC
Police Search for Man Who Sexually Assaults Woman at Tropicana Lodge
Women Arrested for Wal-Mart Wallet-Stealing Spree
MV Schools Close Early as Precaution After Cupertino Shootings
Man Robbed at Gunpoint Near Middlefield Road's Carl's Jr."

It sure seems that Mountain View Patch reports more on local crime than the MV Voice ever does. I wonder why that is, exactly?

To none of your business, "The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face." (William Thackeray) What your stinky thought is, is merely a reflection upon you. I am sorry you feel it necessary to discredit a witness, I was shaken by this as our trails need to be safe places to walk. I wonder how does your stinky thinking works for you?

I am sure what I say will rankle the police department. I can see clearly there was not much buy-in as this was not Mountain View's problem. It was sad they put so many resources into a half baked action. The December 18th incident in Menlo Park is part of a bigger problem as The Eye has indicated. We are on a slippery slope in our area with not enough employment opportunities and only seeing charity.

I was at Safeway the other day, and I noticed food left in a grocery cart in the parking lot with no one around. The thought was charity, someone in this time of need left food for someone in need.

I am starting a foundation to remedy some of the problems right now. We do have unemployment, we do have poor in our midst, and in one instance we do have the lack of resources to provide a first rate police station. It is council that is to blame, they take too long and in light of the actions of redevelopment issues they missed the opportunity to act. We have many well meaning people in government, but we do not communicate very well, and we are too pragmatic.

The foundation will remedy the redevelopment issues and remedy the 11 year pragmatic single building cycle of government action. We need efforts like mine repeated over and over because what one grant can do, the efforts of hundreds, even thousands can have super profound effects. A new day is upon us, please like minded people in Mountain View talk to me and I can get you on the fast track in forming and operating a foundation that will replace redevelopment which is on its way out. Think of the good it will do in creating fabulous communities all up and down the state.

You can find me on the trail from time to time, this time cell phone in hand. Come up to me and say hello, I wont bite.

"None of your business" I had no problem inderstanding C.P.'s post. So this, from a MV resident since 1977, and a product of Palo Alto schooling (no big deal locally, but clearly you are outclassed here): Shut up newbie...California is too crowded as it is. Go back to wherever you came from.

You are not from here. It's obvious.

signed, Cubberley class of '71 (sick of your type)

Errata: thanks to no post editing of this site. "I wonder how does your stinky thinking works for you?" to: I wonder how does your stinky thinking work for you?

Stevens Creek Trail so sorry.

Remove my then's and all's it is a bad habit I have.

As a note to stinky thought None of your business. This is a blog that is non post editable. Get it editable then you have a point. All it takes is either a remove button or an edit button. Neither exist.

I was in the area when they had the road blocks up and asked a police officer who they were looking for, he said "a black guy, with a white t-shirt and blue jeans".

Shouldn't they have come up to me (I was on foot walking right next to him) and handed my a copy of the perp's photo and asked me if I had seen him? Also, they were "peeking" into cars as they left the area but none of the car trunks were being searched.

If the story posted above the encounter with the suspect on the trail is true, then he probably had someone pick him up as he was asking for street names.

Why no description of the suspect? Why can't journalists from this paper ask and report basic questions central to a story?

Observer -- if you haven't noticed, any Nick Veronin article for the Voice will not mention a suspect description if the suspect is Hispanic or African-American. If the suspect is white, then you get a full description.

[This is a ridiculous charge. The Voice reports all the information made available by police. Ethnicity is not a factor in what we report. We do restrict racist comments on this site.]

The police have an APB with a picture and it matched perfectly with the person who spoke to me. This has nothing to do with race. The person of interest is African American, and matched perfectly with who was in the area, that's it. The conversation I had with him made zero sense. Anyone who is on the trail knows where they are. I tossed it up to someone visiting and did not react with "oh no not one of us" which is racist. I don't do that.

Was this worth it? no, the suspect was well gone by the time I had to ask the police questions. Our silent government is falling down on the job. We honest law abiding citizens need open dialogue with our risk mitigators on the front lines. Being silent and thinking they can get everything under control is laughable. We did that a while ago with a problem in Los Altos. There the police had issued an APB, the guy was white, and the police swept it to my office where I posted it around where I live. Here we did not do that. Now it seems to me 3 days is enough time to get things like this disclosure together. They did not do that. Next time the police need a suspect who is on parole, go to his home and talk to him and arrest him if needed. Don't do this horrid cost of searching that resolved into nothing.

Santa Clara County is out of line. The Second Amendment does not address a "privilege", it addresses an INALIENABLE RIGHT. Pepper spray is a ridiculous means of self-defense. It's high time the citizens of this country asserted their rights. The police are under no obligation whatsoever to "protect" the citizenry, and are quite clearly incompetent to do so. We need the means to protect ourselves. We have the RIGHT to protect ourselves.

[This is a ridiculous charge. The Voice reports all the information made available by police. Ethnicity is not a factor in what we report. We do restrict racist comments on this site.]
(Portion removed. Please take your racist comments elsewhere.)

>Observer -- if you haven't noticed, any Nick Veronin article for the Voice will not mention >a suspect description if the suspect is Hispanic or African-American. If the suspect is >white, then you get a full description.
>
>[This is a ridiculous charge. The Voice reports all the information made available by >police. Ethnicity is not a factor in what we report. We do restrict racist comments on this >site.]

But it's your job to ask questions of the police, not just regurgitate whatever they provide you. So if it's not provided -- just ask! It's important to get all the details you can on the suspect.

Re: restricting "racist comments" -- why are any questions that mention the Day Worker Center considered "racist"? Many people have valid concerns about the city supporting illegal immigrants.

(Take up your immigrant concerns with Congress. As for police coverage, we always ask for all details and publish what is available.)

This thread is going nowhere. It is time to move on.

Stinky thinker: Quit nitpicking and go home.
Erica: Erica!!!
Everyone else: MVPD is doing the best they can and I am grateful. You should be too. You couch quarterbacks can second guess the MVPD's actions all day, but I don't see you out there chasing down the bad guys.
C.P.: I'm glad you are okay. I know that trail can be sort of creepy sometimes. Too bad. I do see the cops come through there sometimes and I hope that helps.

After hearing the helicopters and all the police I asked an officer if what they were doing was a concern to the neighborhood. He told me to move along and it was not my concern. Good thing they weren't looking for someone dangerous. Ridiculous attitude towards the citizens that live in the area. Move Along!