Fighting Crime

Neighbor's son foils home invasion in Charleston Township

Donna Beatty had just finished her Monday morning jog with her dog when she returned home and noticed something was wrong.

A strange car was parked by the house with its trunk open. Two men had kicked in a back door and were attempting to steal video games and the family’s Wii, she said.

Beatty walked through the front door, saw an unfamiliar face and sprinted to a neighbor’s house.

“I kind of freaked out,” said Beatty, 38, who lives near Augusta on the 13000 block of M-96.

But unknown to Beatty, her neighbor’s grown son was about to intervene to stop the robbery.

He removed the keys from the suspects’ car, so they couldn’t flee, Beatty said.

Then, the neighbor’s son used a large hunting knife to keep one suspect at bay in the driveway until police arrived and arrested him about 11:17 a.m., she said.

“He couldn’t have been more perfect,” Beatty said. “It’s amazing he did what he did.”

One suspect, whose name was not released, is lodged in the Kalamazoo County Jail on charges of home invasion, according to a news release from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office.

Police were unable to apprehend the second suspect, who escaped on foot through the woods, police said.