When a woman in Riverside was "in the doghouse," her predicament was quite a literal one.
Police say the woman was a passenger in a stolen car and darted from police and into a yard, where a surveillance camera captured her trying to hide inside the homeowners' doghouse.
Sarah Stephens says around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, she heard noises coming from her backyard. "I ran and woke up my husband and called the cops," she said.
Stephens immediately checked her surveillance cameras and saw a woman trying to open the slider and then walking over to a large cooler before finally crawling into the doghouse to hide. Stephens' husband grabbed a bat and she grabbed a shotgun, ready to protect their 10-year-old son.
"If she would have come into our house, she would have had a shotgun blast through her body," Stephens said.
Thankfully for Stephens - and the woman - officers quickly arrived and threatened to unleash a K-9. The woman eventually crawled out of the doghouse and surrendered.
"She saw my husband on the way out and said, 'Sorry, but you got a nice doghouse, though," Stephens said.
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Riverside Police Department Officer Ryan Railsback said the woman could have been seriously injured during the ordeal, since officers had no way of knowing if she had a violent background or was carrying a gun. Investigators said that if she hadn't run from police, she wouldn't have gotten into trouble.
Now, though, she is facing a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice because she ran from officers. The alleged driver of the stolen vehicle, 18-year-old Angelo Calamandrei, was arrested for evading police and driving a stolen car.
