Buddy caught a BG

Syntax360 · May 24, 2006, 09:41 AM

One of my favorite things about being a TFL member is reading everyone's real life stories. So in that spirit, I'll share this story...

My best friend, who lives about 5 miles from me, called last night to tell me about an encounter he had Tuesday morning. He was sitting outside his apartment at ~3AM and spotted 4 young guys roaming the complex parking lot. He went inside to avoid any potential trouble and heard a car alarm going off a few minutes later. He ran outside and saw the four guys inside his car. He started yelling at them and they all ran. He pursued one, knocked him over, and dragged the guy back to his apartment in a headlock. Once inside, he threw the guy into the corner and grabbed his Beretta CX4 and held the perp until the police showed up. Before they arrived, the guy had ratted out his other three friends, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The police picked up two of the other guys about an hour later and the fourth later that morning.
They smashed his back quaterpanel window and stole his cd player faceplate. He got the faceplate back, but is still left with the damages from the window.

My pal is only 20, so he didn't have a CHL, or a handgun for that matter. I don't think I would have handled the situation in the same way, but it worked out for him ultimately. I'm glad to see events like this work out the way it did - too many of these scumbags get away with this kind of crap. Most of all, I guess I'm glad my buddy didn't get seriously hurt/killed by the kid he caught.

What do you guys think? Think he was completely stupid for going after the kid and dragging him back home? Also, the legality of holding the perp at gunpoint is a little fuzzy to me? I seem to recall this topic being brushed over in my CHL class. Any input/impressions are welcome!

AirForceShooter · May 24, 2006, 10:21 AM

incredibly stupid.
But, he's young.

AFS

BillCA · May 24, 2006, 10:29 AM

Yup. He's stupid and lucky. If any or all of them had turned back on him, he'd have been badly outnumbered.

Quote:

Once inside, he threw the guy into the corner and grabbed his Beretta CX4 and held the perp until the police showed up.

Quote:

My pal is only 20, so he didn't have a CHL, or a handgun for that matter.

Let's see, he held the perp at gunpoint without a handgun? Or am I misreading this? Is the CX4 a carbine (not that familiar with Berettas).

jcoiii · May 24, 2006, 10:32 AM

Not too bright.

But all the same, glad that there are people out there who do try and do something, even at personal peril.

Syntax360 · May 24, 2006, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BillCA:
Let's see, he held the perp at gunpoint without a handgun? Or am I misreading this? Is the CX4 a carbine (not that familiar with Berettas).

The CX4 is a Carbine - once he got the perp back to the apartment, he used the only firearm he had to convince the perp to stick around for the police.

With the handgun/chl comment, I was just trying to establish that he was completely unarmed when he took off after the perp. Had that kid been armed, my buddy would have been in a world of hurt.

HangFire83 · May 24, 2006, 11:55 AM

That is one lucky guy. I'm glad he is ok. On the "citizens arrest" tip, I believe you can do that if the BG is commiting a felony.....Please correct me if I'm wrong.

exar · May 24, 2006, 02:57 PM

More often than not, chasing someone who is fleeing and dragging them back into your home and putting a gun in their face is generally not a good idea, especially when you enter the legal realm. I certainly would NEVER bring some punk into my home to get a good look at "the guy's (who got you and your buddies arrested) home".

Anthony2 · May 24, 2006, 03:05 PM

In all reality probably not the best decision in the world. I think someone on TFL has a quote that goes "Good judgement comes from experience, Experience comes from bad judgement." That seems to be the case here.(I hope

) Tell friend congrats on catching BG's and to now go get his CHL.

Hedley · May 24, 2006, 03:22 PM

That's crazy. It reminds me of a night a few years back in my first college apartment in the bad part of Austin. I was talking to a my girlfriend at about the same time in the morning, when I heard a noise in the parking lot. I peeped out the window and saw a flash of bright orange in my neigbhor's car. As I got my glasses on, I saw there were four guys my age trying to jimmy the ignition. I hung up on my girlfriend (who still to this day thinks I'm lying) and called the cops.
I really had no idea what to do, but had an idea as to who the kids were, and wanted to find out. So my roomate and I tried to creep out the back of the building...me with a golf club and him with a bat. But my drunk roomate litterally "poured" into the breezway, immediately sending the four kids scampering off into the dark. One of the kids was wearing a bright hunter-orange fleece jacket in the middle of a Texas June. Can you guess who got nabbed after the cops showed up? They just broke the vent window and managed to bust open the steering column. Amateurs.
What was really funny was trying to wake my neigbor up when the cops showed. The cop started beating on his door with the butt-end of a mag light at 4 am! After ten minutes of door-knocking, he finally came to the door, scared out of his mind.
We would find out later that Neil had stabbed some poor would-be-burglar in the back of the head with a two-pronged serving fork a few months back, and thought that's why the cops were at his door. He also told us that prior to stabbing the guy, he trapped his hand in his bedroom door jamb, and beat on it with a rock from his aquarium. When I asked him why he didn't phone the cops, he told us he thought he had maybe gone a bit too far, stabbing a fleeing suspect.

rangermonroe · May 24, 2006, 04:37 PM

Well, your friend is some kind of barbarian. With his defending of his own, and his neighbors property with his, potentially, own life. What an

Quote:

IDIOT

!

Thanks be, that no one was hurt.

In the future, he should use his camera phone to take a snapshot of the alledged perpetrators, blow a whistle loudly, call the police, and hide in a closet.

I certainly hope that he had been avoiding alcohol during this aledged event. If not, he certainly would have been charged with calling the authorities while imbibing, at the least...and maybe even charged with felony stalking of "urban artists".

Could your friend be sure that they were not "expressing themselves" in his car? Perhaps they were victims...of something!

Was the alledged "car thief" allright? Let it be so, as I surely don't want your friend to be charged with a "hate crime".

Whatever was going through his mind...defending his property at the risk of self?

Sickening! :barf: That is what the authorities are for!!

Freaking barbarians around here!

(end riduculous sarcasm)

Friend is Good To Go, so far, in my "future neighbor" test

FirstFreedom · May 24, 2006, 06:06 PM

This is precisely the type of thing a full-auto paintball gun with altnerating OC & orange paint balls are made for:

1. Not deadly force (since only property crime)
2. "Marks" the suspect for police (that's why you're doing it - of course it's NOT to cause pain & suffering or ruin their fresh threads).
3. OC balls, if they work, will help in detaining them.
4. Don't get close enough to allow them them to go hand to hand with you.
5. Likely scare the beejebus outta them - they'll think they're being hit with a real gun, so not likely to turn on you.

Of course, have a real gun for backup, in case you are justified in using it.

Syntax360 · May 24, 2006, 06:51 PM

I didn't know OC paintballs were civie legal? Last I checked, it was a LEO only thing (or at least only sold to LEO). If so, I'll bet he would seriously buy some. That would be excellent for such an occasion.

I also agree that it's good to see people actually do something. Too many people get away with too much now-a-days. I wish I could have been there to see their faces. But ya, I definitely wouldn't have waltzed on out there and just invited 4 guys to gang up on me.

I'm still curious about the legal aspects of my buddies behavior throughout the whole incident.

rangermonroe · May 24, 2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

I didn't know OC paintballs were civie legal? Last I checked, it was a LEO only thing (or at least only sold to LEO).

What if someone had an eye put out? Then it would be really funny, wouldn't it?

jcoiii · May 25, 2006, 10:11 AM

Quote:

What if someone had an eye put out? Then it would be really funny, wouldn't it?

THen, by definition, it would have stopped being fun and games.

Baba Louie · May 25, 2006, 01:07 PM

l'audace, l'audace, tous jour l'audace
Sometimes action is better than a plan. Good thing slow perp had no knife or screwdriver on him, etc.

Rather be lucky than good.

DunedinDragon · May 25, 2006, 01:42 PM

Luck had nothing to do with it.

This happened in TEXAS!!!

Not likely he'd have the same outcome in most other states....

stephen426 · May 25, 2006, 01:55 PM

I'm glad nothing happend to your friend. I'm not sure about the legality of grabbing the perp and dragging him back to the apartment to hold him at gun point. It could potentially considered illeagally detaining someone (similar to kidnapping). At the same time, it could be considered assault as well. If the kid finds an attorney, he just might try and sue your friend... after he goes through court for his problems.

I'm not too well versed on the details of a citizens arrest, but I would venture a guess that your friend probably crossed a few of those boundaries. I hope nothing bad comes of this.

FirstFreedom · May 25, 2006, 03:04 PM

Quote:

What if someone had an eye put out?

It's a very very small risk with a paintball gun, and one I'd be willing to take against hoodlums trying to steal my car.

Quote:

I didn't know OC paintballs were civie legal?

Just create "Syntax360 Security Service" on paper in 3 seconds, and voila, send your order on your company's letterhead to the police supply store - I don't think there's any law prohibiting non-LEO possession/use.

http://www.pepperball.com/faqs.asp

Syntax360 · May 31, 2006, 11:59 PM

In case anyone was interested, a co-worker stumbled upon this story covered in one of the local newspapers. My buddy had no idea - haha.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/14688964.htm

Hardtarget · June 1, 2006, 10:21 PM

Years ago I caught a punk in my back yard. It was almost midnight, heading to bed, looked out my upstairs bathroom window. There he was, looking in my truck. As wifey prepairs to call LEO's, I'm heading down with a shotgun.I ask if hes lost something,(thought maybe my son's friend), he says he's just leaving, 12 ga bird shot through twiggy limbs of overhead tree. He's begging me not to shoot him. Wife calls LEO, neighbor comes out to help. As neighbor goes to check punks car, an off duty LEO comes by and in two minits we have five cars. They NEVER mentioned my shotgun or the shot. Put punk in the car and off to jail. One officer asked the punk if he thanked me. "what for?" For not shooting you, DUMB A$$. I thought it was funny but I think he was serious
All that to say...I was about 35 at the time but I'm still not sure I wouldn't go out tonight if I see the same thing. So I understand why your friend went out. I think there is just too much that we let go by, so the punks and bad guys think we're afraid to do ANYTHING. makes you want to :barf:
Mark.

rick_reno · June 2, 2006, 09:28 AM

A few years ago I went out to get my morning paper at an apartment building I was living in, it was about 5:30am. I saw a large black gentleman exiting a car with what looked like a radio. We passed right by one another, I noted he had the radio (?) in one hand and his other hand was in his GI issue field jacket pocket - where I assumed he had a weapon. I nodded, said "Good morning" and immediately went back into my ground floor apartment and called the police. They told me to remain in my apartment and stay on the phone. They came fast, a bunch of yelling at a dog in German - and the dispatcher asked me to go outside and identify myself to one of the officers. I did - and was asked to identify the person in the back of the squad car. They'd taken a 9mm S&W from him, the cop said it was in his jacket pocket and it was someone they'd been looking for weeks. He'd been breaking into cars and pulling armed muggings in the area. They said I was lucky he didn't consider me a threat, I might have gotten shot. I gave them my name/etc for court and was never called.

FirstFreedom · June 2, 2006, 01:24 PM

Quote:

One officer asked the punk if he thanked me. "what for?" For not shooting you, DUMB A$$.

Some people are just not very good at showing gratitude.

leadcounsel · June 2, 2006, 04:12 PM

No offense, but your friend is incredibly foolish.

First, this is a property crime and needs to be handled accordingly. Deadly force is not justifiable.

Breaking into a car may only be a misdemeanor and not a felony. Generally a felony must occur before a citizen can make an arrest. Otherwise the citizen risks unlawful detainment/arrest, which is a tort and he can be sued.

It wasn't very smart for your unarmed friend to chase 3 others (who may have been armed). Dragging one back INTO his home was also really dumb. He's committing assault, unlawful arrest, battery to name a few. And when he held the suspect at gunpoint he was breaking a host of other laws including assault with a deadly weapon (gun crimes often have mandatory 5 year prison sentences). Your friend had no right to detain, with force and a firearm, a suspect committing a misdemeanor crime.

I am all for stopping crimes, but the law doesn't like "self help."

Your friend is VERY lucky that this didn't go south. It could VERY easily have gone badly.

MR.G · June 3, 2006, 06:45 PM

Should have taken care of things outside, and not brought him to his apartment. He had the POS in a headlock, so there must have been some kind of confrontation between them. I would have finished it there, and called it even.

Glockamolie · June 3, 2006, 08:24 PM

Quote from leadcounsel - "First, this is a property crime and needs to be handled accordingly. Deadly force is not justifiable."

Maybe not in your state, but at night, it is in Texas.

A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property:

(1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41; and

(2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary:

(A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or

(B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and

(3) he reasonably believes that:

(A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or

(B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury.

With the disparity of force (more than one perp), I think he'd have (3) (B) covered. I wouldn't want to be the one administering deadly force over property, but by the letter of the law, it's legal. As far as bringing them back in your apartment, well...

P.S. Burglary of a Vehicle is a Class A Misdemeanor.

May 24, 2006, 09:41 AM	#1
Syntax360 Senior Member Join Date: April 17, 2006 Location: Grand Prairie, TX Posts: 694	Buddy caught a BG One of my favorite things about being a TFL member is reading everyone's real life stories. So in that spirit, I'll share this story... My best friend, who lives about 5 miles from me, called last night to tell me about an encounter he had Tuesday morning. He was sitting outside his apartment at ~3AM and spotted 4 young guys roaming the complex parking lot. He went inside to avoid any potential trouble and heard a car alarm going off a few minutes later. He ran outside and saw the four guys inside his car. He started yelling at them and they all ran. He pursued one, knocked him over, and dragged the guy back to his apartment in a headlock. Once inside, he threw the guy into the corner and grabbed his Beretta CX4 and held the perp until the police showed up. Before they arrived, the guy had ratted out his other three friends, including names, addresses, and phone numbers. The police picked up two of the other guys about an hour later and the fourth later that morning. They smashed his back quaterpanel window and stole his cd player faceplate. He got the faceplate back, but is still left with the damages from the window. My pal is only 20, so he didn't have a CHL, or a handgun for that matter. I don't think I would have handled the situation in the same way, but it worked out for him ultimately. I'm glad to see events like this work out the way it did - too many of these scumbags get away with this kind of crap. Most of all, I guess I'm glad my buddy didn't get seriously hurt/killed by the kid he caught. What do you guys think? Think he was completely stupid for going after the kid and dragging him back home? Also, the legality of holding the perp at gunpoint is a little fuzzy to me? I seem to recall this topic being brushed over in my CHL class. Any input/impressions are welcome!

May 25, 2006, 01:07 PM	#15
Baba Louie Senior Member Join Date: September 23, 2001 Posts: 1,552	l'audace, l'audace, tous jour l'audace Sometimes action is better than a plan. Good thing slow perp had no knife or screwdriver on him, etc. Rather be lucky than good. __________________ A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government." - George Washington, January 8, 1790, First State of the Union Address

May 25, 2006, 01:55 PM	#17
stephen426 Senior Member Join Date: March 11, 2005 Posts: 3,879	I'm glad nothing happend to your friend. I'm not sure about the legality of grabbing the perp and dragging him back to the apartment to hold him at gun point. It could potentially considered illeagally detaining someone (similar to kidnapping). At the same time, it could be considered assault as well. If the kid finds an attorney, he just might try and sue your friend... after he goes through court for his problems. I'm not too well versed on the details of a citizens arrest, but I would venture a guess that your friend probably crossed a few of those boundaries. I hope nothing bad comes of this. __________________ The ATF should be a convenience store instead of a government agency!

May 24, 2006, 10:21 AM	#2
AirForceShooter Senior Member Join Date: December 21, 2005 Location: Sarasota (sort of) Florida Posts: 1,296	incredibly stupid. But, he's young. AFS

May 24, 2006, 10:32 AM	#4
jcoiii Senior Member Join Date: January 8, 2002 Location: TN Posts: 556	Not too bright. But all the same, glad that there are people out there who do try and do something, even at personal peril.

May 24, 2006, 11:55 AM	#6
HangFire83 Senior Member Join Date: February 9, 2006 Location: Howell, MI Posts: 323	That is one lucky guy. I'm glad he is ok. On the "citizens arrest" tip, I believe you can do that if the BG is commiting a felony.....Please correct me if I'm wrong.

May 24, 2006, 02:57 PM	#7
exar Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2006 Location: Indiana Posts: 224	More often than not, chasing someone who is fleeing and dragging them back into your home and putting a gun in their face is generally not a good idea, especially when you enter the legal realm. I certainly would NEVER bring some punk into my home to get a good look at "the guy's (who got you and your buddies arrested) home".

May 24, 2006, 03:05 PM	#8
Anthony2 Senior Member Join Date: March 2, 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 360	In all reality probably not the best decision in the world. I think someone on TFL has a quote that goes "Good judgement comes from experience, Experience comes from bad judgement." That seems to be the case here.(I hope ) Tell friend congrats on catching BG's and to now go get his CHL.

May 24, 2006, 03:22 PM	#9
Hedley Senior Member Join Date: May 9, 2006 Location: South Texas Posts: 1,279	That's crazy. It reminds me of a night a few years back in my first college apartment in the bad part of Austin. I was talking to a my girlfriend at about the same time in the morning, when I heard a noise in the parking lot. I peeped out the window and saw a flash of bright orange in my neigbhor's car. As I got my glasses on, I saw there were four guys my age trying to jimmy the ignition. I hung up on my girlfriend (who still to this day thinks I'm lying) and called the cops. I really had no idea what to do, but had an idea as to who the kids were, and wanted to find out. So my roomate and I tried to creep out the back of the building...me with a golf club and him with a bat. But my drunk roomate litterally "poured" into the breezway, immediately sending the four kids scampering off into the dark. One of the kids was wearing a bright hunter-orange fleece jacket in the middle of a Texas June. Can you guess who got nabbed after the cops showed up? They just broke the vent window and managed to bust open the steering column. Amateurs. What was really funny was trying to wake my neigbor up when the cops showed. The cop started beating on his door with the butt-end of a mag light at 4 am! After ten minutes of door-knocking, he finally came to the door, scared out of his mind. We would find out later that Neil had stabbed some poor would-be-burglar in the back of the head with a two-pronged serving fork a few months back, and thought that's why the cops were at his door. He also told us that prior to stabbing the guy, he trapped his hand in his bedroom door jamb, and beat on it with a rock from his aquarium. When I asked him why he didn't phone the cops, he told us he thought he had maybe gone a bit too far, stabbing a fleeing suspect.

May 24, 2006, 06:06 PM	#11
FirstFreedom Junior member Join Date: May 31, 2004 Location: The Toll Road State, U.S.A. Posts: 12,451	This is precisely the type of thing a full-auto paintball gun with altnerating OC & orange paint balls are made for: 1. Not deadly force (since only property crime) 2. "Marks" the suspect for police (that's why you're doing it - of course it's NOT to cause pain & suffering or ruin their fresh threads). 3. OC balls, if they work, will help in detaining them. 4. Don't get close enough to allow them them to go hand to hand with you. 5. Likely scare the beejebus outta them - they'll think they're being hit with a real gun, so not likely to turn on you. Of course, have a real gun for backup, in case you are justified in using it.

May 24, 2006, 06:51 PM	#12
Syntax360 Senior Member Join Date: April 17, 2006 Location: Grand Prairie, TX Posts: 694	I didn't know OC paintballs were civie legal? Last I checked, it was a LEO only thing (or at least only sold to LEO). If so, I'll bet he would seriously buy some. That would be excellent for such an occasion. I also agree that it's good to see people actually do something. Too many people get away with too much now-a-days. I wish I could have been there to see their faces. But ya, I definitely wouldn't have waltzed on out there and just invited 4 guys to gang up on me. I'm still curious about the legal aspects of my buddies behavior throughout the whole incident.

May 25, 2006, 01:42 PM	#16
DunedinDragon Senior Member Join Date: March 12, 2006 Posts: 198	Luck had nothing to do with it. This happened in TEXAS!!! Not likely he'd have the same outcome in most other states....

May 31, 2006, 11:59 PM	#19
Syntax360 Senior Member Join Date: April 17, 2006 Location: Grand Prairie, TX Posts: 694	In case anyone was interested, a co-worker stumbled upon this story covered in one of the local newspapers. My buddy had no idea - haha. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/14688964.htm

June 1, 2006, 10:21 PM	#20
Hardtarget Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2001 Location: Nashville, Tn. Posts: 683	Years ago I caught a punk in my back yard. It was almost midnight, heading to bed, looked out my upstairs bathroom window. There he was, looking in my truck. As wifey prepairs to call LEO's, I'm heading down with a shotgun.I ask if hes lost something,(thought maybe my son's friend), he says he's just leaving, 12 ga bird shot through twiggy limbs of overhead tree. He's begging me not to shoot him. Wife calls LEO, neighbor comes out to help. As neighbor goes to check punks car, an off duty LEO comes by and in two minits we have five cars. They NEVER mentioned my shotgun or the shot. Put punk in the car and off to jail. One officer asked the punk if he thanked me. "what for?" For not shooting you, DUMB A$$. I thought it was funny but I think he was serious All that to say...I was about 35 at the time but I'm still not sure I wouldn't go out tonight if I see the same thing. So I understand why your friend went out. I think there is just too much that we let go by, so the punks and bad guys think we're afraid to do ANYTHING. makes you want to :barf: Mark.

June 2, 2006, 09:28 AM	#21
rick_reno Junior member Join Date: May 28, 2002 Location: Idaho Posts: 917	A few years ago I went out to get my morning paper at an apartment building I was living in, it was about 5:30am. I saw a large black gentleman exiting a car with what looked like a radio. We passed right by one another, I noted he had the radio (?) in one hand and his other hand was in his GI issue field jacket pocket - where I assumed he had a weapon. I nodded, said "Good morning" and immediately went back into my ground floor apartment and called the police. They told me to remain in my apartment and stay on the phone. They came fast, a bunch of yelling at a dog in German - and the dispatcher asked me to go outside and identify myself to one of the officers. I did - and was asked to identify the person in the back of the squad car. They'd taken a 9mm S&W from him, the cop said it was in his jacket pocket and it was someone they'd been looking for weeks. He'd been breaking into cars and pulling armed muggings in the area. They said I was lucky he didn't consider me a threat, I might have gotten shot. I gave them my name/etc for court and was never called.

June 2, 2006, 04:12 PM	#23
leadcounsel Junior member Join Date: September 8, 2005 Location: Tacoma, WA Posts: 2,119	No offense, but your friend is incredibly foolish. First, this is a property crime and needs to be handled accordingly. Deadly force is not justifiable. Breaking into a car may only be a misdemeanor and not a felony. Generally a felony must occur before a citizen can make an arrest. Otherwise the citizen risks unlawful detainment/arrest, which is a tort and he can be sued. It wasn't very smart for your unarmed friend to chase 3 others (who may have been armed). Dragging one back INTO his home was also really dumb. He's committing assault, unlawful arrest, battery to name a few. And when he held the suspect at gunpoint he was breaking a host of other laws including assault with a deadly weapon (gun crimes often have mandatory 5 year prison sentences). Your friend had no right to detain, with force and a firearm, a suspect committing a misdemeanor crime. I am all for stopping crimes, but the law doesn't like "self help." Your friend is VERY lucky that this didn't go south. It could VERY easily have gone badly.

June 3, 2006, 06:45 PM	#24
MR.G Senior Member Join Date: July 20, 2001 Posts: 641	Should have taken care of things outside, and not brought him to his apartment. He had the POS in a headlock, so there must have been some kind of confrontation between them. I would have finished it there, and called it even.

June 3, 2006, 08:24 PM	#25
Glockamolie Senior Member Join Date: September 11, 2005 Location: Houston, Tx Posts: 359	Quote from leadcounsel - "First, this is a property crime and needs to be handled accordingly. Deadly force is not justifiable." Maybe not in your state, but at night, it is in Texas. A person is justified in using deadly force against another to protect land or tangible, movable property: (1) if he would be justified in using force against the other under Section 9.41; and (2) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary: (A) to prevent the other's imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, theft during the nighttime, or criminal mischief during the nighttime; or (B) to prevent the other who is fleeing immediately after committing burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or theft during the nighttime from escaping with the property; and (3) he reasonably believes that: (A) the land or property cannot be protected or recovered by any other means; or (B) the use of force other than deadly force to protect or recover the land or property would expose the actor or another to a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury. With the disparity of force (more than one perp), I think he'd have (3) (B) covered. I wouldn't want to be the one administering deadly force over property, but by the letter of the law, it's legal. As far as bringing them back in your apartment, well... P.S. Burglary of a Vehicle is a Class A Misdemeanor.