T.O. Resident Jumps Into Action After Discovering An Alleged Thief In His Garage

Alan Redburn couldn’t believe his eyes.

He came out to his garage Friday morning and saw a man who appeared to be stealing his bike – and wearing his helmet!

It was the beginning of a strange adventure that saw the Toronto man confronted with a suspect police had been chasing down just moments before.

The drama started around 7:40am, when a man weaving down the road in his car in the Kingston and Main area lost control, hit a minivan, knocked over a fire hydrant and took out a hydro pole.

After his vehicle finally came to a reluctant – and crumpled – halt on Southwood Road, the man got out and began running, jumping several fences. 

He headed straight for Redburn’s garage.

And that’s when the surprised homeowner came outside.

“I just grabbed him and I wrestled him to the ground and I was knocking him more to the ground and I just finally got him right to the sidewalk,” the outraged resident remembers.

“I just said ‘I don’t know you. What are you doing here?’ And he says ‘aw, please sir, I just got into a car accident.’ I said, ‘don’t move I’m calling the police.’

But he never got to his phone.

It turns out cops had been chasing him and were just minutes behind. “He tried to bolt by me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a police car coming right down the street at the right time.”

Redburn is still amazed by the sheer chutzpah of the intruder.

“He looked like he owned the place. He really did. He was very comfortable and … looked like he was just going out for a morning bike ride.”

Redburn’s hands were cut up slightly but he emerged unscathed and was checked out by paramedics.

The suspect has admitted that he was high on drugs as the action unfolded.

“What are you on?” an officer is heard asking him.

“Heroin,” the man replies. “And I smoked some crack earlier.”

Redburn acted more on instinct than sense. He reflects now on how dangerous what he did was.

“I look back at it now and although everything turned out for the best  … he’s not injured and I’m not injured, but I think it could have been a lot worse.”

Especially since Friday was a P.A. day. If it hadn’t been, the streets might have been filled with young children heading to school. And no one wants to imagine what could have happened if that had been the case.

As for Redburn and his heroics? “I just want to get back to work,” he shrugs. “Get into my regular routine. And forget all this happened.”

The suspect is charged with theft and dangerous driving.

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