Fairfax Farmer Foils Would-Be Burglars

Fairfax Farmer Foils Would-Be Burglars
1 Man Arrested, 1 Man Got Away

POSTED: 10:40 pm EDT June 1, 2005
UPDATED: 10:46 pm EDT June 1, 2005

FAIRFAX, Vt. -- With several break-ins in his neighborhood, a farmer near Fairfax said he wasn't surprised when he came home to find an armed burglar in his house Wednesday morning.

But instead of calling the police, Kevin Bushey took matters into his own hands.

When Bushey heard a noise coming from the basement, he ran downstairs and came face to face with a burglar armed with a pistol and a hunting rifle, police said.

Bushey had taken a screwdriver and popped all four tires on the car in the driveway, police said. Another man was still able to jump in the car and drive away.

Bushey left the first man at his home and chased after the car. When he saw it parked in a driveway on Route 104, he said he rammed it into a ditch.

The driver, identified as Jarrett Erwin, 25, of Burlington, couldn't get out.

Erwin was taken into custody, but the other suspected burglar ran away.

The $100 or so the men tried to steal, and the two guns will be returned to Bushey, police said.

"I'm fortunate that I'll get my stuff because most generally it doesn't end this way," Bushey said.