WATERLOO — Courier reporter Jeff Reinitz is used to covering crime in the Cedar Valley, but he never expected to help solve one.
That’s what happened the evening of March 12, though, when he had a chance encounter with a stolen car while out shopping.
“It really wasn’t anything,” Reinitz said after the fact. “I was just at the right place at the right time.”
Reinitz
At approximately 5:30 p.m., the Waterloo Police Department received a report about a stolen black Ford Edge with Minnesota license plates from Hy-Vee Wine and Spirits, at 2126 Kimball Ave. According to Reinitz, he was behind the vehicle owner in the checkout line when it happened.
On his way home, Reinitz spotted the SUV on Miriam Drive near Kimball and Ridgeway avenues and followed behind it, calling the owners of the store. He also saw the driver pull over to pick up a passenger. He kept the owner and the Hy-Vee staff notified of its path, who in turn notified the police.
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While Reinitz had promised to keep an eye out for the vehicle, he was not out looking for it, and the encounter was a coincidence.
“I kind of said, ‘If I see it, I see it’ and I started home,” he noted. “And I saw it.”
Police eventually found the vehicle near Falls Avenue and Maxwell Street, where the driver reportedly refused to pull over until reaching a dead end at Community Motors. A 17-year-old girl was the alleged driver of the stolen SUV and 18-year-old Najaha Ragsdale also was arrested while trying to flee from the passenger seat.
Marilene Capentes pushes a cart along the streets of Malabon city just north of Manila every morning except Sundays, collecting bags of segregated garbage. Capentes, who is 47, said the trash used to be all mixed together — and heavy — until a local environmental nonprofit started asking residents to separate it a few years ago. The Mother Earth Foundation in the Philippines, as a member of the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, is trying to prevent food waste from going to landfills, where it emits methane as it breaks down and rots.
Waterloo Police Capt. Jason Feaker said Reinitz’ tip was crucial to the prompt apprehension of the suspects.
“Jeff’s a tremendous reporter and a tremendous asset to us,” Feaker said. “He knows people out in the community and people trust him. And, if he hears something, he’ll definitely let us know on stuff that’s going down in the community.”
Feaker said such calls and tips are a major component of the department’s work, making officers’ jobs easier and the community safer.
“It’s a common thing: When you see something, say something,” Feaker said. “And we rely on citizens daily, not just what they openly see but if they catch something on their home camera systems, we rely on those. And if someone sees something suspicious, definitely give us a call.”
Photos: 20 years after U.S. invasion, young Iraqis see signs of hope
A man has his beard shaved by a barber in Fallujah, Iraq, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A motorized rickshaw, or tuk tuk, rides past the entrance of Abu Ghraib, Iraq, west of Baghdad, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. For Iraqis, the war and U.S. occupation which started two decades ago were traumatic – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to an estimate by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, in addition to some 4,000 Americans. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The sun sets over Baghdad, Iraq, on Thursday, March 2, 2023. A U.S.-led war twenty years ago deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man makes his way to the al-Kadhimayn shrine in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Youths gather along the Tigris River for a concert by rap artist OG Khalifa in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. One of the songs he performed mocks “sheikhs,” those who wield power in the new Iraq through wealth or political connections. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Pensioners, some of whom were prisoners of war during the first Gulf War, demonstrate outside the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Youths wait for a ride on the bridge crossing the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, March 2, 2023. In 2004, four armed contractors working for the private military contractor Blackwater were killed and their bodies hung from the bridge. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Riot police take position on the outskirts of the Green Zone as pensioners, some of whom were prisoners of war during the first Gulf War, demonstrate in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A family drinks tea at the Alshabander cafe on Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Women stand on the "martyrs' bridge" spanning the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man holds his cellphone near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Worshippers gather for Friday prayers in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, on Friday, March 3, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Youths gather along the Tigris River for a concert by rap artist OG Khalifa in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. One of the songs he performs mocks “sheikhs,” those who wield power in the new Iraq through wealth or political connections. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A U.S.-branded muscle car speeds through the streets of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A family heads to the al-Kadhimayn shrine in Baghdad, Iraq, on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023. For Iraqis, the war and U.S. occupation which started two decades ago were traumatic – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to an estimate by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, in addition to some 4,000 Americans. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Two students celebrate their graduation at the upscale Qalaat Baghdad restaurant complex built in a former palace of Saddam Hussein along the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Safaa Rashid looks into a security camera in a Baghdad cafe, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. The 26-year-old was a child when the Americans arrived in 2003, but he said he rues "the loss of a state, a country that had law and establishment." (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Noor Alhuda Saad, 26, a Ph.D. candidate at Mustansiriya University who describes herself as a political activist, sits in a Baghdad cafe on Wednesday, March 1, 2023. She says her generation has been leading protests decrying corruption, demanding services and seeking more inclusive elections -- and won’t stop till they’ve built a better Iraq. “The people in power do not see these as important issues for them to solve. And that is why we are active.” (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Members of a cycling club take to the roads for a 50-kilometer (31-mile) trip in Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. The group organizes rides weekly for scores of men and women who see bike-riding as a healthy way to relieve life's stress and for good company. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A veiled woman walks through the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Youths gather along the Tigris River for a concert by rap artist Khalifa OG in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday Feb. 25, 2023. In his music, he sings about the difficulties of finding work and satirizes authority, but is not blatantly political. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani sits for a portrait in his office in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. Unlike other Shiite politicians who fled Iraq during the Saddam Hussein era, he never left Iraq, even after his father and five brothers were executed by the regime. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
In a long exposure photo, night sets on Firdos Square, the site where American soldiers downed a statue of Saddam Hussein two decades earlier in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023. Today's Iraq is a world away from the terror that followed the U.S. invasion to depose Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Young men chat near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man touches the door of the Office of the Martyr al-Sadr in Baghdad's Sadr City Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. This working-class, conservative and largely Shiite suburb in eastern Baghdad is home to more than 1.5 million people. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man reads a book at the Alshabander cafe on Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. A U.S.-led war two decades earlier deposed a dictator whose imprisonment, torture and execution of dissenters had kept 20 million people living in fear for a quarter of a century. But it also broke what had been a unified state at the heart of the Arab world. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A woman walks through the narrow streets of Alsadria neighborhood in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. For Iraqis, the trauma from the war and U.S. occupation launched twenty years ago is undeniable – an estimated 300,000 Iraqis were killed between 2003 and 2019, according to the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, as were more than 8,000 U.S. military, contractors and civilians. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Mohammed Zuad Khaman, center, prepares kebabs at his family's cafe in one of Baghdad's poorer neighborhoods along King Ghazi Street on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023. Khaman is a talented footballer, but he says he cannot get an opportunity to play in any of Baghdad's amateur clubs because he does not have any "in" with the militia-related gangs that control sports teams in the city. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Muscle car aficionados gather at Baghdad's hippodrome to watch an informal drifting contest Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
The ferris wheel of Baghdad's Alzawraa amusement park shines in the night in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. Two decades after a U.S.-led invasion, Iraq’s capital today is full of life and a sense of renewal, its residents enjoying a hopeful, peaceful interlude in a painful modern history. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A man holds a vintage stamps featuring King Faisal II near Al-Mutanabbi street in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Feb. 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
