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It was a short sprint.
Saddle Brook police who got a 911 call of the posse chasing 56-year-old Theodore Sutton of Passaic down Westminster Place last night arrived to find him being restrained, Deputy Chief Robert White said.
The homeowner told Officer Scott Habermann that he was in his living room when he heard the back door open. Thinking it was his fiance, he said, he didn’t get up at first.
That’s when the chase began — the homeowner shouting as he ran.
Two other neighbors on the street, seeing what was happening, immediately joined in.
Habermann brought Sutton to headquarters, where, White said, police found him carrying several pieces of jewelry, including a silver bracelet with turquoise stones and a silver crucifix (pictured). The pieces didn’t come from the Westminster home, he said, but police held onto them while investigating their sources.
Sutton, meanwhile, was being held on $7,500 bail in the Bergen County Jail pending a Municipal Court hearing on Tuesday.
“Although we don’t recommend citizens actively engaging — and chasing after — criminals themselves, I do admit the successful and quick apprehension of Sutton is a direct result of the citizens involved,” White said, commending all three.
Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler said the “emotional adrenaline probably kicked in” for the homeowner and his neighbors.
That they were chasing “an out-of-shape criminal” enabled “a quick apprehension for them and just-as-quick burglary solve for our department,” the chief said.
IMAGES: Courtesy SADDLE BROOK PD
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