Note to crooks: Don't mess with Marines

Alison Harbaugh - The Capital Hillsmere resident Mike Hayes, right, is being hailed as a hero by his neighbors for stopping and detaining a burglar.

Leatherneck 2nd in year to chase down criminal

The burglar also pocketed money stashed in the girl's wallet, and other items from the home, before making his way to a taxi that was waiting for him by the curb.

It would have been an easy escape - if only former Marine Michael Hayes hadn't been standing next to the cab, refusing to let the man leave without a logical explanation for his bulging pockets and plastic bag full of change.

Mr. Hayes, 33, told The Capital he was home for lunch around 12:15 p.m. when he heard his two Belgian malinois "going nuts" in the back yard. He let the dogs in, then peeked out a window to see what was going on.

He found it strange that a cab was waiting in front of his neighbor's house, and figured the driver must be lost.

The father of two walked up to the cab to offer assistance. Just then, he saw the man walk out of his neighbor's back door with the bag full of change and his pockets stuffed.

"I acted friendly and said, 'What's going on, man?' " Mr. Hayes said. The man told him he was there to "see his boy" and not to worry about it.

But Mr. Hayes did worry, and put his hand on the cab door.

He said the crook offered to show him something and then took off running down the street, tossing coins, dollar bills and other items from his pockets onto lawns.

Mr. Hayes went after him.

The chase went for a quarter-mile, through yards and over bushes on Cedar Lane, with Mr. Hayes yelling for the man to stop.

The burglar took a right and headed to Locust Lane, where retired city Fire Department Capt. Leonard Clark was backing his red truck out of his driveway.

Mr. Clark saw what was going on, and pulled his truck in front of the fleeing burglar, who was screaming that he knew where Mr. Hayes lived, that he had a knife and he would "stick him" with it. The truck slowed the burglar down and forced him to cut through a row of bushes.

Mr. Hayes tripped over one of the bushes. When he stood up, he said, the burglar jabbed the top of his right hand with a silver knife.

That wasn't enough to stop the former Marine, who once served as a close-combat instructor. He knocked the knife out of the man's hand and took him to the ground.

"I was obviously scared, but with what I was taught in the Marines, it was just like second nature," he said. "It was just my reaction."

Mr. Hayes kept the man in a wrist-lock while Mr. Clark kicked other knives out of the man's hands and called police.

When police arrived, Mr. Hayes still had the man on the ground.

Derwyn Deon Spriggs, 20, of the 400 block of Oaklawn Avenue in Annapolis, was arrested and charged with breaking and entering, first- and second-degree assault and theft, police said.

The neighborhood has been abuzz about Mr. Hayes' heroic chase, according to his brother, Bob, who's visiting from Illinois.

"Everyone in the neighborhood is walking up to him and congratulating him," he said.

Elena DiBerardinis' mother, Laura, baked Mr. Hayes his favorite cake - apple - and gave him a $50 gift card to Chili's for nabbing the man who burglarized her home.

Ms. DiBerardinis said she got a call from Mr. Hayes' wife Monday afternoon and was told that her home had been broken into. It wasn't until she got home that Ms. DiBerardinis found out how her neighbor had chased down the burglar.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I told him he really shouldn't have done that. But that's Mike."

She said no one was home when the burglar went into the home.

Police are still hanging onto the money, for now.

"She's pretty bummed," Ms. DiBerardinis said of her daughter.

But at least Elena will see her money again - and it's all thanks to Mr. Hayes, and the help of Mr. Clark.

"He went above and beyond," she said. "He said, 'Oh, you would have done the same for me.' I said, 'Sure, I would have called police, Mike. But I don't think I would have chased him.' "

A Marine's instinct

About a year ago, another local Marine was praised for his role in catching a jewelry store thief.

Maj. Erik McInnis was at Westfield Annapolis in May 2006 when he saw a shabbily dressed man run out of Helzberg Diamonds.

He immediately left his two children, ages 9 and 2, in the mall's play area and chased the man through the back corridors of the mall.

Witnesses said Maj. McInnis "hurdled the row of seats and hit the ground at an all-out sprint behind the thief ... He was through the doors in hot pursuit before anyone else knew what was happening."

Maj. McInnis followed the crook back into the mall, grabbed his collar, and put him in a figure-four hold on the ground. After a few moments, an off-duty FBI agent walked up and handcuffed the man.

Police said that crook had snatched a $28,000 diamond ring out of someone's hand in the jewelry store. After he was arrested, police pulled the ring from his mouth.

The next month, Maj. McInnis, who had since been transferred from the Naval Academy to a San Diego airfield, was honored by Helzberg Diamonds in California for his deed.

The company thanked the Marine by donating $1,000 each to the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society.