Inmate helps foil armed robbery

Tracy Treadwell has more experience committing crimes than fighting them.

But last week, the 38-year-old resident of a prison system halfway house helped foil an armed robbery in the southwest part of the valley.

About 3:45 p.m. Thursday, Treadwell was sitting outside the Port of Subs on Rainbow Boulevard near Russell Road waiting for the start of his restaurant shift when he saw a woman chasing a man through the shopping center parking lot.

At first, Treadwell thought it was just a fight between a couple. But then he heard the woman, who turned out to be an employee of a neighboring salon, shout: "That man robbed us!"

Treadwell then went after the guy.

But he wasn't the only one. Michael Ryan, the 40-year-old general manager of The Cracked Egg, saw the suspect running past his restaurant, so Ryan gave chase.

"I didn't think twice about it, which made my wife a little mad," Ryan said.

Ryan got to the suspect first. He tackled him in a small courtyard next to the restaurant. But Ryan backed off when the man slashed Ryan's face with small tile knife.

The robber could have gotten away had Treadwell not arrived hot on Ryan's heels. Treadwell put the suspect in a headlock and took the knife away from him.

Treadwell then sat on the robber until police arrived. Treadwell is 6 feet tall and weighs about 250 pounds. The suspect, he said, was about 5 foot 7 inches and appeared to be about 100 pounds lighter than Treadwell.

Speaking at the Port of Subs on Sunday, Treadwell said he didn't think twice about putting himself in harm's way. "I went on instinct," he said.

Ryan, who has a small cut under his eye from his fight with the suspect, said Treadwell "saved my butt."

"It was a pretty noble effort on his part with the situation he's in," Ryan said.

Treadwell is trying to finish a 14-month to 48-month sentence for attempted possession of a stolen vehicle. He served about 18 months at Warm Springs Correctional Center, a medium security prison in Carson City, and is serving the remainder of his sentence at Casa Grande Transitional Housing Facility on Russell Road near Interstate 15.

Inmates housed at Casa Grande are eligible to work outside the halfway house, as part of the effort to prepare them to return to society. Treadwell has worked at the Port of Subs for about a month. He may be paroled in December 2007, according to the Department of Corrections.

Treadwell said this wasn't his first stint in prison. In the early 1990s he served time for possession and attempted possession of a stolen vehicle and before that for beating up an inmate at the Las Vegas city jail after the inmate tried to come on to him, he said. He said he had been detained at the jail for traffic violations.

These days, however, he is trying to be a different man.

"I'm trying to change and go on with a new life," he said.

Contact reporter David Kihara at dkihara@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-4638.