A Willimantic woman confronted an intruder, chased him out her her home and held him down until police arrived.
Pauline Bragg, 52, was in her Valley Street home on Sunday night when she noticed a man inside.
“I looked and there's this guy, this big shadow standing there with a flashlight,” Bragg said.
The suspect, identified by police as Ramon Rivera, ran out of the house with Bragg right behind him.
“I didn't think, 'I'm going to decide to go chase him.' It was a reaction, you know,” said Bragg.
According to Bragg, who is the mother of a teenage boy, the chase continued into the backyards of three other homes.
“We got in a scuffle. He picked up a two-by-four and hit me,” Bragg said, still nursing bruises from the altercation.
As Bragg pinned Rivera down, she called out to neighbors for help, but said no one offered to assist her.
“I looked right at them and said, 'Get over here and help me.' And you know, nobody wants to get involved,” Bragg said.
Some neighbors called 911, and police arrived and took Rivera into custody. According to Bragg, Rivera told police that he had not broken into her home, but that the two had been involved in a domestic dispute.
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“All of a sudden, he said. 'I don't want to be with you anymore,' like trying to make it sound like it was domestic violence, like I was a crazy woman trying to keep her man,” said Bragg.
Police quickly determined the two did not know each other.
Rivera is charged with second-degree assault, third-degree assault, second-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief and fifth-degree larceny. He is being held on $200,000 bond and is scheduled to be in court Sept. 28.
According to police, Rivera has 25 prior arrests.
