Montclair Car Owner Takes Law Into Own Hands, Chases Teen Thief: PD

MONTCLAIR, NJ — A car owner in Montclair recently took the law into his own hands, chasing and holding a teenage car burglary suspect until police arrived on the scene, authorities said.

According to the Montclair Police Department, the incident took place on Oct. 18 on The Crescent.

The victim told officers that he looked out of the rear window of his home and saw two people clad in black, hooded sweatshirts breaking into his Volkswagen Tiguan. The resident went outside, and the suspects fled the scene on foot. The car owner chased them while he called police, authorities said.

When officers arrived on the scene, the car owner was holding onto one of the suspects – a 17-year-old Linden resident, authorities said.

The other suspect managed to escape, authorities said.

Police arrested the teen – who had the resident’s wallet in his possession – and charged him with burglary, possession of burglary tools and theft. He was released to the custody of a parent, authorities said.

It isn’t the first time in recent history that a North Jersey resident has tried to take direct action to stop a crime-in-progress.

In 2020, a Bloomfield resident tried to foil a carjacking by leaping onto the hood of a moving vehicle. The victim said he saw a man trying to steal his car, which was left running with the keys in the ignition and the door open. When the man tried to drive away, the owner of the car jumped on the hood in an attempt to stop the theft, police said.

The car thief then drove towards Belleville Avenue with the owner clinging to the hood of his vehicle. The owner of the car – who remained on the hood the entire time – wasn’t hurt, police said. Read More: Carjacker Drives Off With Owner Clinging To Hood, Bloomfield Police Say

A similar incident took place in Belleville in 2019. However, the car’s owner was seriously injured after he clung to a vehicle's hood for almost a mile in an attempt to stop a carjacking. Read More: Belleville Man Seriously Injured After Leaping On Car To Stop Thieves

Police have warned against making so-called “citizen’s arrests,” which can end poorly.

After a Hoboken man made a citizen’s arrest of a suspected home burglar in 2016, Detective Edgardo Cruz told Patch that anyone trespassing in a resident’s home can be held until police arrive.

That being said, Cruz doesn’t recommend that you try this at home.

“We do not encourage anyone in a situation like this to attempt to make an apprehension themselves as they run the risk of serious bodily injury,” Cruz told Patch. “The best way to help is to be the best witness one can be.”

• See Related: Hoboken Resident Makes Citizen's Arrest, Grabs Suspected Burglar: Police

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