Paul Bass Photo
When Michael Smart woke up Sunday morning, it dawned on him: “Oh my God. What was I thinking?”
The previous afternoon, Smart, a Wooster Square alderman, had chased an armed burglar from his house and through the neighborhood until the police caught up with him. Three times the burglar pointed a gun at Smart and threatened to shoot, Smart said.
Smart (pictured at a political event Sunday night) recalled how only the next morning did the gravity of the encounter fully hit him.
“I could have died,” he realized. “instantly. When you’re running like that, it didn’t faze me [at the time]. My whole thing was, ‘I’ve got to get this guy.”
Smart, who’s 42, said he returned to what he thought was an empty house, his home on Lyon Street, around 3:30 p.m. Saturday only to hear someone running around. He called the police to report a burglar.
“He [the burglar] came out on the deck. He saw me,” Smart said. “He ran back in the house, down to the first floor, and out.”
Smart who ran the 50- and 100-yard dash for Wilbur Cross’s track team back in the day, chased after him. At Jefferson and Lyon streets, the burglar, still running, pointed the gun and said, ‘’‘I’ll shoot you!’” Smart recalled. That happened again a few blocks later.
At Grand and Jefferson, the burglar stopped. “He turned around with the gun. He said, ‘I’ll kill you.’”
This time Smart backed off, ran in the other direction, where he saw a police car approaching. He jumped in the car and helped lead the officer inside to the suspect, who was then arrested. Smart said the arrestee is 23 years old.
Good job Mike!