Ore. senator scares off burglar with bat

• Tweet

EUGENE, Ore., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- An Oregon state senator said he scared off a burglar by threatening him with a baseball bat.

Democratic Sen. Chris Edwards of Eugene owns guns but said he wasn't looking for a firefight when he awakened to the sound of his garage door opening and apprehended the burglar in his garage Thursday in the early morning, the Eugene Register-Guard reported.

"I opened my door to the garage and saw a guy standing over by my bikes. I yelled at him, 'What the blank are you doing? Get the blank out of my garage!' He looked up at me and then took off running," said Edwards, who had been armed with a 32-inch Easton aluminum bat.

Edwards said he ordinarily locks his car doors, but believes he might have forgotten to do so Wednesday night. Police arriving on the scene moments after Edwards placed a 911 call, said the burglar found the automatic garage door opener.

"Knowing that somebody did this on the one night the car door was left unlocked tells me that people are out there walking around and checking doors until they find one that isn't locked," Edwards said.

Edwards, who posted a Facebook message about the incident -- which included some profanity and harsh words addressed to the intruder-- said he has had responses to his post.

"It's been amazing to see how many people from different political points of view have chimed in to talk about this crime problem. As citizen legislators, we live amongst everybody else, and the same things affect us that affect everybody."