A California man with mixed martial arts training took down an arson suspect in a stolen Tesla by dragging him out of the driver’s seat Saturday and wrapping him up like a “pretzel” until police arrived, according to Bay Area authorities.
The suspect allegedly swiped the Tesla in Fremont and drove to Vallejo, where police say he used road flares to light a fire that scorched 15 acres of vegetation before firefighters put it out – about the size of 11 football fields.
Alex Bello, the good Samaritan martial artist, witnessed a man “playing” in a field before he saw flames erupt near the intersection of Admiral Callaghan Lane and Turner Parkway on his way home from Costco with his family.
“It sounds weird, but that’s why I started staring because he looked like he was just poking at the grass, and all the sudden I realized he was lighting a fire,” Bello told Fox News Digital.
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The man, who appeared homeless, then threw a flare into the middle of the field, which Bello said is next to a residential area stocked with homes, including his own.
“It was not a bravery thing, it was more of a ‘We’re on our phones a lot, and we’re used to recording instead of acting upon,’ and I was with my kids and the mother of my kids, and I talked to her and I told her I got to get involved,” he said. “It was right behind my house, so it was something I had to do.”
It was windy. The field was dry. And the fire spread rapidly, he said.
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So, he and at least one other witness called 911, and Bello decided to follow the suspect and keep an eye on him.
“The dispatcher kept asking where he is, what is he doing,” Bello said. “I told them I would feel comfortable if I could take him down – I wouldn’t have to keep following him around.”
The dispatcher gave him the OK, he said, and he waited for the chance.
He…
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