Bluff pickup owner captures suspect, holds him for police

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- A Poplar Bluff man is in jail facing a tampering charge after a resident confronted the man as he was allegedly breaking into a vehicle.

Randy Dean Luttrull, 19, was charged Wednesday with tampering, the Butler County prosecuting attorney's office said. Luttrull is accused of defacing a pickup truck. Both side windows on the truck, as well as the back glass and windshield, were reportedly broken out and its dash was damaged when a compact disc player was removed, court papers allege.

The charge stems from an incident at about 1:10 a.m. Wednesday in the 1400 block of North 12th Street.

Struggle ensued

Police were dispatched to an incident of someone breaking into a vehicle.

While en route, they were told the vehicle's owner was struggling with the suspect.

When officers arrived, they found the owner "standing over a white male lying in the ditch," police said.

The man, later identified as Luttrull, was "unconscious, bleeding from the head and had a large amount of bruising around his left eye and forehead," police said.

Police said the vehicle owner told officers his wife woke him after she heard a loud noise outside their residence.

When the owner looked outside he saw a man standing next to his truck, police said.

The owner went outside to investigate and saw the man striking his truck with a lug wrench.

The owner reportedly confronted Luttrull who reportedly raised the lug wrench above his head as if to strike the owner, police said.

At that point, the owner reportedly struck Luttrull once with his fist, knocking him to the ground and stood over him to prevent his escape, police said.