By Rod Rose
Assistant Managing Editor
Lebanon — An off-duty Zionsville police officer is credited with helping Lebanon officers capture a burglary suspect Tuesday morning.
Brian E. Cooper, 24, 1400 block of South Beck Street, was running “about five blocks south and 10 blocks east” of a suspected burglary when he was spotted by ZPD Sgt. Scott Abbott, Lebanon Police Dept. Lt. Brent Wheat said.
Abbott held Cooper until LPD officers arrived to arrest him on burglary charges, Wheat said.
“I really commend Officer Abbott for being alert and helping us take a felon into custody,” Wheat said. “It may be a cliché, but it is one big team around here.”
Also arrested was Brittany A. Blackstone, who lives in the Elm Street Trailer Court at 441 W. Elm St., on theft charges, Wheat said.
The call began when workers reported a suspicious vehicle parked in tall weeds behind storage units at 313 E. Noble St., Wheat said.
“I found Brittany, and she said she had a male with her who took off running when the complainants saw them,” Wheat said. That running man is believed to have been Cooper.
Officers were calling for a K-9 unit and were setting up a perimeter when Abbott radioed that he had caught Cooper.
Blackstone and Cooper are thought to have been looking for scrap metal to steal, Wheat said. Police found a building had been broken into.
See Wednesday’s Lebanon Reporter for more on this story.
