  Ohio Teen Girl Tackles, Hogties Intruder DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - A petite 17-year-old girl awakened by intruders sprinted from her house barefoot in pajamas and tackled one trespasser, pinning and hogtying him for police. Melissa Alexander said her experience training horses and playing soccer and softball helped her as she took down the taller and heavier 18-year-old man.
Two others were arrested later, and police were looking for a fourth suspect. "I still don't know what came over me," Alexander said Thursday. "I wasn't thinking at first, then he started making me mad. " Her mother marveled at the feat. "She had it all under control," Vickie Stanley said of the 5-foot-3, 110-pound daughter she described as "a little bitty thing. " Police said the man Alexander tackled — Jason Burkett, of Brookville — is 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds.
Alexander told police she was asleep at 3 a.m. Tuesday in her German Township home about 15 miles southwest of Dayton when her cousin woke her, saying there were people in the yard snooping around the family's cars. The two alerted Stanley, who suggested turning the outside lights on and off a few times to scare away the intruders. "Then I crawled back into bed," Stanley said. But Alexander and her cousin still heard noises, so Alexander opened the garage door and saw men inside.
They ran out, and she began the chase. "I hit him pretty hard. But I think I also scared him," Alexander said. She sat on Burkett and the other women brought her a lead line she uses to exercise horses. Alexander wrapped the lead line around Burkett's hand, then looped it around his neck and pinned him to the ground. As he tried to wiggle free, she told him she acquired wrestling-type skills during her years of training horses.
Police arrived and were surprised at what they found. "They shined the spotlight on the yard. I think they thought it was my stepdad who had the guy. They realized it was under control and walked up to the house. Then they saw it was me," Alexander said. Police said that all four cars in the garage had been ransacked. Burkett was charged with theft and criminal trespassing, police Chief W.L. Wilcox said. A 17-year-old boy and Trestan Stamps, 18, both of Brookville, who were arrested later, were charged with the same offenses, Wilcox said.
Alexander, a junior at Valley View High School, said the police asked her if she is interested in a career in law enforcement, but she said no. "I just wanted to make sure they didn't get away," she said. 
