WESTFIELD – A city man may have learned that you can’t always believe what you are told after police stopped him from towing away a boat he was told was free for the taking.
Police report that a Northridge Road resident called at 10:43 p.m. Saturday and said that a neighbor had advised him that somebody was stealing his boat from his driveway.
Reserve Officer Aaron Spiller was the first police officer to arrive and reports that the man who had moved the 19-foot 1986 Stingray speedboat into the street said that he had been told he could take the boat.
Spiller reports that the suspect said that he had stopped to admire the boat earlier in the day and a neighbor had approached him and told him that the boat was free for the taking because the house was in foreclosure.
The man said that he repeatedly asked the man if it was really true that the boat was free and he was assured by the owner’s neighbor that he could take the boat.
The man said that he had spent more than two hours preparing the boat for removal while the neighbor watched.
He said it was not until he had moved the boat that another neighbor approached and stopped him.
Spiller reports there was no response at the house across the street where the suspect said that the man he had spoken with came from.
To date, no charges have been filed.
