Henderson County Business Owner Chases Down Accused Burglar
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HENDERSON COUNTY, Tenn.- It was an unusual day for one business owner who arrived to work just in time to catch an alleged burglar in the act of vandalizing his business early Wednesday morning. Executive Secretary for the Beach River Authority in Lexington, Jeff Griggs told 7 Eyewitness News he never anticipated chasing down a suspected thief at work. “I get out of my car this morning and I hear a big crash behind the building and thought it was very odd,” said Griggs. Griggs took action after noticing the front door of his business had been smashed in. He said he ran around back to witness Andrew William Ferguson, 21 vandalizing his building. “I threw my stuff down and ran around the back. Low and behold there was the guy breaking out the windows,” said Griggs. Police said they believe Ferguson did a significant amount of damage in a short period of time, smashing windows, ransacking offices and kicking in office doors. “It’s definitely unusual, it’s not something we see everyday,” said Captain Jeff Middleton of the Lexington Police Dept. Griggs said he will never forget the moment that he came face to face with Ferguson who was smashing office windows. ” He ( Ferguson) said what kind of place is this,” said Griggs, “and I just told him you know it’s a business.” Griggs said he called police for help which made Ferguson run away. With the dispatch officers on the phone, Griggs said he took off after Ferguson to keep an eye on where he was going. “I kept telling him look dude your not going to out run me,” said Griggs,” I get up every morning at 4:30 and walk five miles, so I was already ready to go.” Investigators said they were able to catch Ferguson down the road just in time before he got away, thanks to Griggs’ chase. Griggs attributed his success to experience running down suspected thieves at a grocery store he worked in many years ago. “Hopefully by catching him maybe I’ve prevented him from breaking in on somebody else that’s what i hope comes out of this,” said Griggs. Lexington police said they have charged Ferguson with felony vandalism and burglary.
