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Father And Son Chase Down Burglar In Lowell Home

LOWELL (CBS) - A man who tried to rob a home in Lowell says he picked the wrong house.

22-year-old Ryan Baillardeon couldn't sleep in the very early morning hours Tuesday.

He went outside to sit on a backyard swing. That's when he saw a light shining on the grass, coming from the kitchen window.

"I knew there was someone in my house," says Baillardeon.

He went inside, to a room where his mother was sleeping with his niece.

"When I opened the door into my mom's room, I knew it didn't open all the way. This guy was close," says Baillardeon.

In fact, the stranger was behind the bedroom door trying to grab his mother's laptop computer.

WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports

"I just kept pushing him, kept his leverage down, and I managed to bounce him off the stove and the counter, and then tackled him down the stairs.  I held him down and pretty much choked him with my elbow."

"There was no need for me to be there because he took care of everything himself," says his father Alan Baillardeon.

"I wouldn't encourage people to do this."

Police say they normally don't tell people to fight intruders, but they're not criticizing Ryan's actions.

"This was a win-win all around," says Captain Randall Humphrey.

Police arrested 25-year-old Raymond Coan, who was pinned down by Baillardeon when officers arrived at the home.

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