A man in Lawrence, Kansas, allegedly attempted to steal items after breaking into a parked car. Unfortunately for him, the car’s owner, a woman, chased him, tackled him, and then forced him to return all of her belongings. He now faces multiple charges.
According to a press release issued by the Lawrence Kansas Police Department (LKPD), the incident occurred at around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, May 24. At the time, the woman, who has since chosen to remain anonymous, was still awake but noticed something odd in her car.
Reportedly, she saw that the dome lights of her car were on. Once she investigated the issue, she was shocked to witness a stranger allegedly rummaging through her vehicle.
The lady yelled as she approached him to confront him. The unnamed man, caught in the act, chose to run away. But that wasn’t the end of it.
Chasing Him Down
The woman, still anonymous, spoke with FOX4 and retold what followed next. Not content with having chased off the alleged car burglar, she began to run, barefoot, hoping to catch him herself.
“There was no thought about it,” she said. “[There] was a guy in my car, he’s not supposed to be there, he’s going to pay for that.”
The running man, the woman explained, eventually caught wind of her chasing. This caused him to stumble, and the woman performed a full-body tackle. Reportedly, she was used to tackling 500-pound calves as she had grown up on a farm. The woman then said that she had him locked between her legs shortly after.
Accountability
Still, the tackle and subsequent leg lock were not enough for the lady. After the man surrendered, she forced him to gather all of her belongings, taking his phone as collateral.
In total, the man allegedly stole $49 and a flashlight. He would reportedly spend up to 30 minutes picking up all the stuff that fell to the ground during the dramatic chase down.
Finally, as she recovered her items, the woman told the man to go away. He did, but she immediately called the police.
Man Arrested and Charged
LKPD officers would later find the suspect, a 28-year-old man, in a nearby apartment complex, located near Clinton Parkway and Crossgate Drive. It was the woman’s detailed description of him that led to this arrest. Responding officers later found that the man was allegedly in possession of more stolen property.
Online records show a 28-year-old Logan Stanton Thomas, who was arrested at Crossgate Casitas, the exact location and time of the suspect’s arrest described above. Thomas was charged with burglary involving a vehicle with intent to commit a felony, theft, domestic violence, or a sexually motivated crime. He has since been bonded out of the Douglas County Correctional facility, and no mugshot is available at the time.
Meanwhile, the woman said that chasing down the man was probably not the safest idea in the world. She was lucky, as the man was not armed, but things could’ve gone far worse, as detailed by a clip shared by the KCPD. Still, she found the interaction “really fun.”