Sacramento police collared two young suspected burglars late Wednesday morning after a foot chase through a residential neighborhood and over fences, but not before one youth hit one officer and knocked him to the ground.

"He (the officer) was hit with something, we don't know what yet. But he was hit hard enough to where he became woozy, tried to get up and fell back down," said Sgt. Norm Leong of the Sacramento Police Department. The youth, finally captured when a canine officer went into a backyard and bit him, is only 12 years old.

"We're talking about a 12-year-old boy, with other teens committing burglaries in this area where we had a significant increase in burglaries," said Leong in reference to the neighborhood of Mack Road between Highway 99 and Franklin Boulevard.

The incident started around 11:30 a.m. on Summerbrook Way when a man came home for lunch and found he was locked out of his own house.

"I see that the back door is broken, wide open. They thrashed every single room in my house," said an exasperated Thomas Nguyen. He said a laptop, video games and other electronics were missing.

Around the same time, police responded to a report of three suspicious youngsters in the neighborhood, all carrying backpacks. When officers approached, the three scattered, going into yards and jumping over fences. John Vasquez saw one of them, a 17 year old, hitting fences "like a gazelle."

"Man, that dude, he shoulda been a track star instead of a thief," said Vasquez. "It was effortless the way he was hitting them fences, man."

Officers quickly caught the 17 year old but the other two kept running. The unidentified officer was knocked to the ground by the 12 year old before the boy was captured. The third youth, believed to be between 16 and 18 years old, remains at large.

"I was under the assumption they were 17, 15 maybe, but 12 years old? That's crazy right there. He should be in school," said Vasquez, among the other neighbors buzzing about the young age of the suspected thief willing to attack an officer.

Leong said it's a strong message for parents who needing know what their kids are doing and watch for signs of trouble.

"Know what they're bringing home and how they end up getting certain items because if all of a sudden your children have more expensive items than they should have, that should be a red flag for you to question where and how they're getting that kind of stuff," Leong said.

Leong said items believed to be stolen were found in the youths' backpacks. Other items were found stashed in a shed behind a vacant house next door to where the burglary happened.

The officer was only identified as a newer member of the Sacramento police force. He suffered a slit lip and bruising to his face but declined immediate treatment and remained on the scene to help in the investigation.

source: News10/KXTV

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