ROSWELL, N.M. – It was an errand day an 80-year-old Roswell man will not soon forget. This, after he came face to face with a would-be thief who was trying to steal his car with his best friend inside.
“He started going forward so I ran around and jumped in front of the car,” Troy Teague said.
Teague had no time to think.
“I was yelling at him and everything else,” said Teague.
Someone was trying to steal Teague’s car with his 11-year-old rescue dog, Skip, still inside.
“It was kinda exciting…They asked me if I was scared when I was standing in front of the car and and I said, ‘well, I didn’t have time, I was just hoping I didn’t become an 80-year-old speed bump,’” said Teague.
It all started at Teague’s dentist’s office, not far from Eastern New Mexico Medical Center. He only meant to be a minute.
Meanwhile, police say two security guards were escorting Jacob Gregory Sanchez from hospital grounds for harassing people.
“I left the keys in the car, bad deal,” Teague said.
Sanchez caught sight of them.
“I looked out and saw him in my car,” said Teague.
Yet, Teague’s dog Skip was one step ahead of best friend.
“Yes sir, he give him a good bite,” said Teague.
But the four-legged crime fighter couldn’t keep the man from putting Teague’s car into gear and pulling out of the lot. The doors were locked and Teague could only think of one solution — to act as a human blockade.
“I was just going to jump on the hood, just like this, and hang on,” demonstrated Teague. “I was just trying to keep him from stealing the car.”
Luckily, the two security guards heard the commotion and rushed back to help.
“The security guard jumped through the window, turned the ignition off and unlocked the door,” said Teague. “The other guard came around and they drug him out and grounded him right there.”
He says he doesn’t know what he would have done without them and, of course, his buddy Skip.