What started as a very normal night for Andrew Dowse could’ve ended in tragedy, had it not been for 18 UF Alerts sent at 3 a.m.
A half-stoned Dowse awoke to a first vibration of his cell phone at the end of his bed, but wagged a finger at it and told it to “cut that shit out.” After several more notifications, however, Dowse grew suspicious and took a peek at his phone.
“At first I couldn’t see anything, that screen was so bright,” Dowse said.
After squinting for a little bit, I was like, ‘Ah shit, I’m being robbed.’”
Dowse, confident that his two years on his high school JV wrestling team had prepared him for this day, decided to take matters into his own hands. One of the two home invaders apprehended, a career criminal of Gainesville named Aaron Hernandez, described the altercation.
“I was freaked out because the dude was in his underwear,” Hernandez said. “And then he was trying to hug me and shit, I was like hell nah.”
Hernandez and his accomplice fled the apartment and rushed to a nearby Kangaroo gas station where a police officer was filling up his tank.
“I told him we were turning ourselves in, we were the robbers from the UF Alerts,” Hernandez said. “He looked at me as if he had no idea what UF Alerts were.”
After being coaxed out of his apartment by police who assured him that they weren’t there to search his place or arrest him (“They’d have to tell me if they were, right?”), Dowse explained to the officers what had happened and that the UF Alerts had given him the heads up.
“Through Andrew’s bravery and tenacity, we are pleased to inform everyone that the suspects are in custody,” said a representative from UFPD.
This victory will help bring our success rate up from 0%.”
“I’m really thankful that those UF Alerts updated me,” Dowse said. “Usually I just ignore them, but in an inebriated state I often have poor judgment.”
A representative from the UF Alert system could not be reached, but a statement was texted to all students the morning after.
AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE UF ALERTS, THE CRIMINALS WERE APPREHENDED. PLEASE DON’T CUT OUR BUDGET.