SAN ANTONIO – A Bexar County detention officer tries to detain three alleged would-be burglars in his own neighborhood after he says one of them broke into his house.
The front yard confrontation Sunday morning was caught on his neighbor's surveillance camera.
Of the would-be burglars, Frank Davila Jr., 20, is free on bond, while two 18-year-old suspects, Preston Sluder and Marissa Tolentino, remain at the Bexar County Jail where their alleged victim, Michael Jaime, is a detention officer.
All three have been charged with burglary of a habitation.
Jaime said he was sleeping in Sunday morning when he heard knocking at his front door and breaking glass. He said he thought it was his wife.
When he finally opened his eyes, Jaime said he saw a man who allegedly broke in through the back door, about to take his flat-screen TV.
Jaime said, "I was like, 'Man, am I really seeing this?'"
He said the equally startled suspect ran downstairs, but Jaime, still in his boxer shorts, chased after him with a large Bowie knife he grabbed out of a bed stand.
Jaime said he ran up to the female getaway driver in a waiting PT Cruiser.
"She got scared and just froze up and saw me with the knife," Jaime said.
He said the suspect he had chased jumped into the passenger seat, reached over and started the ignition, telling the woman, "Go, go, go!"
Jaime said after they drove off, he saw a third man run out between two houses, who he then tackled within range of a neighbor's surveillance camera.
"I got him in a choke hold," Jaime said.
He said moments later, the PT Cruiser came back, with the female driver getting out to confront Jaime.
"I was just trying to fend off the female when she came at me," Jaime said. "Supposedly, this was her boyfriend I was holding."
He said the male passenger also got out, first pleading with Jaime to let his friend go, but then began threatening Jaime.
At that point, Jaime said, he finally loosened his grip on the man he was holding.
"I had to get ready to defend myself," Jaime said.
He said as they drove off, he tried to grab a hold of the steering wheel so the vehicle would crash.
Jaime said he quickly had second thoughts, "Wait, hold on this is not an action movie."
Yet by then, he said a neighbor had taken down the license plate, and by the time Bexar County deputies drove up, they told him all three were in custody.