Juniors Christa Music, Amanda Baltazar and James Nimmer chased after and captured former Ball State University student Arthur Kistner after the women said they saw him taking food from their freezer.
Kistner said in the police report that he was hungry because he hadn't eaten in a week. Kistner's housemate, senior Kit Wingate, said there was food in their fridge and he thought Kistner had bought food from the grocery store recently.
Kistner was arrested at 2:49 a.m. on Saturday in front of 1010 W. Carson St. on suspicion of public intoxication, in addition to burglary, residential entry and resisting law enforcement, according to the report.
"He just looked really drunk," Baltazar said. "I've met the guy before, and he's always been really nice so I would never think he would steal stuff from our house. The cops tried to justify it: Maybe he thought it was his house. No way he could have confused our house and thought it was his."
Music lives in the 1000 block of West Neely Avenue and said Kistner lives in the same alley and that one of her housemates knows Wingate.
Music and Baltazar said they chased after Kistner because food had been stolen from their house before and their housemates also had their laptops stolen.
"There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was the guy who had stolen everything else," Baltazar said. "As soon as I saw him, he took off running; it's instinct to chase after him."
Music said the previous incidents also caused her to chase after Kistner.
"Catching someone in the act was why we really chased him," Music said. "We didn't really think twice about it."
The women were in Music's bedroom when they heard a noise in the kitchen. They thought one of their housemates had come home, but when they went to check, they saw Kistner with his hands full of food standing in front of their freezer, Baltazar said.
When he saw them he dropped the food and started to run, she said. Music chased after him and grabbed him around the waist, but he dragged her through the front door and she couldn't hold on.
Nimmer, who had been in the house, asked Music what was going on and then chased after Kistner. Nimmer caught and tackled Kistner a couple times before he was able to call Music and tell her he was on North Linden Street, Nimmer said.
When Music and Baltazar arrived, Nimmer turned to look at them and Kistner ran again.
"Then I chased after him and football-tackled him to the ground," Baltazar said. "I got a couple of hits in."
Nimmer came and jumped on Kistner, holding him down while Baltazar called the police, Nimmer said.
When the cops arrived, Kistner again tried to run and Nimmer again tackled him, with the police following, Nimmer said.
The cops ran over and used a Taser gun on Kistner. Because he had been tangled up with Kistner, Nimmer said he might have been shocked by the Taser gun too if Music hadn't pulled him out of the way.
Kistner refused to be handcuffed, so the police tasered him again until he cooperated, according to a police report.
Baltazar said she is not scared by the intrusions.
"I feel safe," she said. "I'm glad our story is getting out so people won't mess with us."
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