Ky. man foils break-in

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http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/apr/25/ky-man-foils-break-in/

By Beth Smith (Contact)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

There are three Evansville residents who can say their day on Tuesday didn't go as planned.

Two are behind bars at the Henderson County (Ky.) Detention Center, and the third helped put them there.

The incident began around 6:30 a.m. when Doug Myers, a tour guide at LST 325 which is docked near Marina Pointe was on his way to work.

Myers said he was traveling on Waterworks Road in Henderson County when he saw what appeared to be two young men breaking into the Tobacco Mart store.

"There was a man with a bicycle leaning up against the building and he was standing on the crossbars" with his head inside a broken window, Myers said.

A second man appeared to be "the lookout," he said. Police later identified the men as Doyle Gene Rich III and Nathan Allen Smith, both 18.

When the two spotted Myers, Rich allegedly ran away on foot and Smith allegedly rode away on a bicycle.

"I'm 63 years old and I knew I couldn't outrun the 18-year-old on foot," he said. "So I followed the one on the bike."

Myers, who said he did not have a cell phone with him, drove behind Smith and kept him in sight until he could pull him over.

"I told him to put his bike in the back of my truck and then I told him to get in the back of the truck," Myers said.

Smith said he didn't want to go to jail and refused, Myers said.

"I had a small-caliber pistol, and I pulled it out and insisted that he get in the back of the truck," Myers said.

Myers has a permit to carry the .25-caliber pistol, authorities said.

Prior to stopping Smith, Myers said, he passed an Evansville police officer patrolling Waterworks Road.

Myers said after he caught Smith, he turned his truck around, found the officer and told him the situation.

The officer, Myers and Smith went back to Tobacco Mart where the Henderson County Sheriff's Office was notified of the situation. (Although the alleged crime occurred on the Indiana side of the river, that portion of Waterworks Road is in Henderson County.)

It was around 7 a.m. when the Henderson deputies began arriving on scene. And at that point, only Smith was in custody.

"When I turned off of Waterworks Road and into the entrance of the Tobacco Mart, I saw a head pop up over the levy and then right back down," said Lt. Keith Berry.

As soon as he saw the head, Berry said, he knew the whereabouts of the second suspect.

"I went over to him and asked him what he was doing," Berry said. "He said he was just hanging out."

That's when Rich was arrested. The Henderson County Sheriff's Office offered its appreciation to Myers for his "quick actions in apprehending and assisting law enforcement."

"What (Myers) did was an excellent job," Berry said. "We just don't want anyone to get hurt."

"It's the individual's choice," whether he offers as much assistance as Myers did, said Sheriff's Lt. Frank Gropp. "We don't want anyone to get hurt, but we do appreciate his help and any help from the public."

Myers, an Air Force veteran and a retired carpenter, said he did have some reservations about the situation.

"If I'd had my cell phone, I would've kept the man on the bike in my sights and called 911," he said. "But without my phone, I didn't have a choice but to confront him myself. I didn't relish the idea of confronting an 18-year-old. But I figure some of us citizens need to help out those good police officers. I took it one step at a time and did what I thought was right."

People have been asking him if he feels like a hero. But Myers said he didn't do anything that law enforcement doesn't do every day.

"My hat is off to these (police officers)," he said. "They do this every day."

Rich was charged with third-degree burglary and Smith has been charged with complicity to commit third-degree burglary.