Geriatric RVers Take Down The Bad Guy

By Russ & Tiña De Maris | June 18, 2010 - 2:43 pm - Posted in Alaska

HOMER, Alaska — A group of self-described, “Grumpy Old Men” have proved youth doesn’t always have the upper hand on oldsters. When 26-year-old Tyler Cavenaugh allegedly attempted to rob several RVs at an Alaska Highway turnout, the oldsters turned the table and got a grip on the would-be thief, holding him until authorities arrived.

“Everyone was over 70,” said Spike Fortier of Anchorage, the leader of the motorhome caravan. “It was like a rerun of ‘Grumpy Old Men.’”  Witnesses say Cavenaugh burgled two motorhomes at the Baycrest Hill turnout along the Sterling Highway in broad daylight. Fortier saw the man running with loot, and took off after him in a van. Other RVers responded on foot, until a woman driving an auto–apparently an accomplice–attempted to provide an escape. Cavenaugh dove through the open door of the vehicle, head first, attempting to secure a getaway. The quick thinking RVers grabbed whatever they could, and pulled the alleged crook out of the car.

It was then that 70-year-old Harvey Hayden’s glory days on the hockey rink came back to him. “I picked him up in the air and slammed him down on the ground,” Hayden said. “It reverted back to my days playing hockey. … It was kind of a body slam. I’ve been in a million of them on the hockey rink, but never on the Sterling Highway. It must have been quite a shock for Cavenaugh to look up and see himself surrounded over 40 old RVers, all outfitted in yellow vests.

When police arrived–responding to multiple 9-1-1 calls, they found Cavanaugh being held down by several gentlemen from the RV group, and the fruitless fruits of his criminal folly surrounding him. Cavenaugh was charged on June 11 with two counts of first-degree burglary, tampering with physical evidence, second-degree theft — all felonies — and second-degree criminal trespass. The RV group will no doubt have plenty of mileage for campfire stories far into the future.