Confrontation over 'doorbell ditcher' sparked school alert

<p>Police have unraveled the circumstances surrounding a suspicious incident in which a man pulled his pickup alongside two boys walking on the 900 block of Quarry Street on Monday.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>During the incident, the man said he knew who the boys, 8 and 11, were and followed alongside them for about a minute as they walked toward Corona Creek Elementary School at around 8:05 a.m. He then drove away on Riesling Road, in the direction of Kenilworth Junior High School, said Petaluma Police Department sources.</p><p>The boys reported the incident to the police, triggering them to send out a school alert.</p><p>Petaluma police later established that the man, in his 80s, recently has had problems with someone ringing the doorbell of his house on Quarry Street, and then running away. The man pulled up alongside the boys because he thought that at least one of them was responsible for pulling the prank.</p><p>Police officers subsequently identified a teenage boy, who resembles one of the other boys, as being responsible.</p><p>“The man thought that the other two kids were responsible for the ‘doorbell ditching,’ but they are totally innocent,” said Lt. Tim Lyons.</p><p>— Argus-Courier</p>