LONGVIEW, WA (KPTV) -
Police chasing a burglary suspect through a Longview neighborhood Friday afternoon got some unexpected help from an elderly man.
Terry Miracle, 82, said he was pulling weeds in his garden as the suspect led police on a foot chase down his street. Miracle said he heard a police officer yelling.
"I heard a terrific commotion," said Miracle. "And then I heard him say, 'He's heading down 3296.'"
Miracle recognized those numbers right away, since it's his address.
He left the gardening behind and walked up to his house to investigate. Just then, Miracle said the suspect bolted around the corner into his backyard.
"He was looking back to see how close the police were and he didn't see me at all," said Miracle.
In that moment, Miracle remembered a move he learned playing high school football 65 years ago, something he calls a ‘Cross Body Block.'
"'I can do that,' I said to myself, not thinking that I'm an 82-year-old man and he was maybe 30, if that."
Miracle said he ran towards the man, who stopped, and that's when he busted out his move.
"You always lift your knee and spread it out a ways," he said. "And I did that kind of atomically I guess. I caught him in the knees and he went down."
That gave police just enough time to catch up and arrest the suspect. Miracle said he is a little sore but otherwise unhurt.
Since taking down the suspect, Miracle said he has become somewhat of a local celebrity in town. He got a standing ovation in church Sunday when the pastor announced what he had done. A couple of boys even asked for his autograph.
"I wouldn't think of myself of a hero," said Miracle. "I would think of myself, at best, as a person that saw something that needed to done, so I did it."
Police identified the suspect officers arrested as 27-year-old Morgan Perry Bluehorse, a convicted felon with a long criminal history.
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