A Hansford woman detained an alleged burglar on Tuesday while she waited on police to arrive.
Just before 3 p.m., Sarah Kessick called 911 about the alleged burglary on Kanawha Street in Hansford.
Kessick told police she came home and saw Travis Lee Hudnall walking between her house and a fence while carrying her chainsaw, according to a criminal complaint filed in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. She told police she got out of her vehicle and yelled at him to stop.
Hudnall then ran behind the house and over a river bank, according to the complaint. Kessick told police she chased him and was wrestling him when he told her had a gun on him.
During the struggle, she saw her black pistol come of his waistband, according to the complaint. She told police it was the same pistol she keeps inside her dresser in her bedroom.
When Deputy N.L. Brill arrived, he saw Kessick standing over the defendant telling him not to move, and a black handgun beside him. He also found a pink Amazon Fire tablet in Hudnall's right front pocket, according to the complaint.
In a recording of the 911 call, after Kessick tells the dispatcher she "caught a robber," the dispatcher can be heard asking Kessick, "where is he?
"I've got him on the ground," Kessick said.
She can also be heard telling her four children to "get in the truck and lock the doors."
"Because I said so!" she said. "Go, go!"
Kessick can also be heard saying she hit the man and that he is bleeding.
"I'm not [expletive] letting you go," she said.
Hudnall, 31, of Hansford, is charged with burglary. If convicted, he could face one to 15 years.
Sgt. Brian Humphreys, spokesman for the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office, said that his training as a law enforcement officer taught him that whether to use force in a dangerous situation always depends on the circumstances.
Humphreys called Kessick "a little bit of a hero to me."
"It's nuanced," he said of a decision whether to confront someone breaking the law. "It's complicated. It's not something you can sum up."
He said that whether force is justified will vary not only by person, but by incident. He also noted that anyone considering using force should be prepared to be second-guessed later, by police or others.
"You can do the right thing the wrong way," he said. "Trying to protect your home and family can sometimes end very badly for you if first of all you lose the fight, if somebody innocent gets hurt or if you are later found to be unjustified in that force."
Reach Erin Beck at erin.beck@wvgazettemail.com, Facebook.com/erinbeckwv, 304-348-5163 or follow @erinbeckwv on Twitter.