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Texas Mom Takes Down Alleged Peeping Tom

'My next step is to try out for the NFL,' jokes Phyllis Pena
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2021 8:20 AM CST

A Texas mom is getting high praise after tackling an alleged peeping tom. "My next step is to try out for the NFL," Phyllis Pena of Lake Jackson writes on Facebook, sharing a dramatic clip of the Jan. 31 interaction, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She said she returned home from the store around 7am to find a man peering into the bedroom of her 15-year-old daughter, who KPRC reports was not in the room at the time. Responding to a 911 call, officers found a male matching the suspect's description in the vicinity. He took off running, according to a Wednesday statement, then "ran back towards the caller," who was standing in her front yard. A dashboard camera captured Pena rushing forward onto the sidewalk, then wrapping both arms around the man as he tried to run past her.

She pulled the man to the ground just in front of the police vehicle and held him for a few seconds until officers ran over to help. "My kids are my life" and "[my] first instinct was just to make sure he didn't go any further," Pena tells KPRC. "The cop fist-bumped me and he was like, 'Hey, so I heard the Texans are looking for a new linebacker.'" NFL analyst Lance Zierlein was certainly impressed. "Feisty. Quick to step downhill and cut off the angle," he tweeted. "Strikes body on body and runs feet through contact. Excellent wrap and roll finish." "It's not very often that we have somebody that actually steps in, puts themself in harm's way to assist in apprehending somebody," adds Sgt. Roy Welch. He says Zane Hawkins, 19, is facing charges of possession of a controlled substance, evading arrest, and resisting arrest. (More Texas stories.)

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