Benton Harbor man thwarts burglary

Benton Harbor police arrested two 23-year-old men Monday after they tried to rob a home while the family was inside. Police wouldn’t say for sure if these are same suspects from a rash of robberies going on in town. According to the man who got robbed, these guys seemed to know what they were doing.

“You have enough audacity to come in someone’s house while they’re there?” said Michael Johnson, a Benton Harbor father of three who uses an oxygen tank for medical purposes. Johnson is still in shock after thwarting a robbery attempt in his home on Monday.

It happened right at 8.m. right as his kids got on the bus to school.

Johnson and his wife heard a knock at the front door. “My wife got up and went to the door and looked at the dude in his face,” he said.

While Johnson’s wife was distracted two other men came in through the back door of the home and went into the basement.

Johnson went to see who was down there. “We went back there and saw someone running back and forth in the basement.”

Johnson thought it was his teenage son’s friends borrowing a video game but the burglars were bagging up all the electronics downstairs.

The two burglars were in for a rude awakening when they made their way back up the stairs. Johnson was blocking the only way out. “I had my hand on him holding him just like this. I got him here just talking to him with the door closed,” said Johnson.

All of a sudden Johnson realized what was going on. “I’m just holding him at the backdoor and he’s looking at me like I’m crazy with a mask on. I’m thinking man he must be a burglar or something for real.”

Johnson let the two run off but he stopped them long enough to get a description of men and car they were driving. Benton Harbor police found the car not long afterward and the family got all their electronics back.

Johnson was not injured but said if the arrests help solve some of the other robberies in town he was glad to help.