Suspect arrested day after Durham woman fights off intruder in her home

DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Durham woman fought off a man trying to steal from her home Thursday.

Durham Police said the suspect entered the woman's home on Pike Street when she was gone. When she returned, he was inside, police said. She yelled at him and he charged at her. They struggled for a short time, police said.

On Friday, police announced an arrest had been made.

Floyd Kelly Harwell, 55 was taken into custody Friday and charged with breaking and entering and assault on a female.

Harwell is being held at the Durham County Jail.

On Thursday, the woman told ABC11 via text that she chased the intruder to the street but when she went out, she didn't see anybody who could help her tackle him so she let him go.

Thankfully, one of her neighbors heard her calling for help.

"I look out the window, I see a guy and her kind of grappling in the side yard, running up here to the front and so I came out the front door," Elijah Stanley said. "When I got here to the porch, I saw him kind of tossing her down and taking off into the woods behind the house."

Stanley called 911. Police showed up with a K9 to try to track the suspect.

"It's been a quiet neighborhood but it's getting rough everywhere," neighbor Michael Hayes said.

Stanley is glad his neighbor didn't get hurt.

"She is definitely a very strong person to have, even when coming into the house, not just run out, but to tell him, 'Get out,' and to chase him through the yard to try to get him out off her property, was very brave," Stanley said. "I don't know that everybody would have done that."

Police say the woman left her door unlocked and that the suspect didn't take anything.