Citizen Heroes Give Chase and Leave a Burglary Suspect Fit to Be Tied

A parolee who picked the wrong house to burglarize was back in jail Saturday, probably lamenting his bad luck, Los Angeles police said.

Entering a Van Nuys house when the occupants were at home was just his first mistake, police said. His second was trying to outrun a teen-age boy who excels in athletics.

And if those miscalculations weren’t enough, the man’s luck got even worse when a bungee-cord enthusiast happened on the scene.

“He didn’t say much, only that his hands hurt,” said Orestes Matacena of Hollywood, who hogtied the man with the bungee cord after Eric Okrand, 16, downed the would-be burglar with a flying tackle.

“I just dove for his feet,” Eric Okrand said Saturday.

Police arrested William Banks, 39, of Los Angeles, who was being sought on a burglary warrant. Banks, on parole from a previous burglary conviction, was being held without bail in Van Nuys Jail.

Banks’ luck ran out about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, police said, when he entered a home in the 5600 block of Mammoth Avenue, where Eric Okrand lives with his mother, Kay.

At the time, Matacena, Okrand and her son were in a bedroom discussing where they wanted to go to dinner.

“I told Eric and Orestes that I had heard a noise,” Kay Okrand said. “Eric said it was just the cats. But I heard the noise again and realized that was no cat.”

When Kay Okrand went to investigate, she said she came face-to-face with a strange man in the kitchen.

“He was carrying my TV,” she said. “I said something like, ‘What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?’ Then, I just started screaming.”

The intruder turned, dropped the television and fled with Eric Okrand and Matacena in hot pursuit. They caught the man about a quarter - block away.

“I was holding his feet and Orestes had his arms,” Eric Okrand said. “There was no way he was going to get away.”

In a matter of seconds, a passing motorist stopped, asked the two if they needed help and then threw them a bungee cord to tie the man’s hands and feet.

Meanwhile, Kay Okrand had called 911, and neighbors, including Andy Franco, 15, gathered around the bound man to make sure he didn’t escape.

“I just stood watch,” Franco said. “It was pretty neat. We’re a neighborhood that’s prepared. We watch out for each other.”

Police arrived within about 10 minutes and arrested Banks on suspicion of burglary.

Eric Okrand said he didn’t stop to think about danger when he chased the man.

“I’ve never heard my mom scream so loud,” the high school junior said. “I was scared for my mom. I thought he had hurt her.”

“He’s the real hero,” said his proud mother, planting a kiss on her son’s cheek. “He’s very athletic. He plays soccer and a lot of other sports.”

She later called police to report that her television set was not broken.

Police found a half-eaten container of strawberry sherbet in the Okrands’ kitchen and surmised that it must have been taken from another home in the middle-class neighborhood. Officers believe the Okrand residence was entered through an unlocked back door.

In the Okrands’ back yard, police found jewelry and other items believed stolen from neighboring houses.

“Getting this guy felt great to me,” Eric Okrand said.

Police called the incident a good, although perhaps extreme, example of community-based policing.