‘He is a hero’: Friend intervenes and punches out burglary suspect in Northern California home
Deputies arrested a man accused of breaking into a woman’s Nevada City home, hiding in her bedroom with a knife and assaulting her, before her friend punched out the suspect and detained him until authorities arrived.
The incident unfolded early Wednesday at a home in the 16000 block of Indian Flat Road, a rural area just north of Highway 49.
The woman arrived home with her friend. She entered the home while her friend stayed outside briefly to attend to his dog, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release.
The woman did not know that Damien Michot, 31, had broken into her home earlier and was hiding behind her bed with a knife, sheriff’s officials said.
It’s unclear how Michot and the woman knew each other, but one of his criminal charges stemming from Wednesday’s reported assault is an allegation of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, according to Nevada County Superior Court records.
Sheriff’s officials said Michot assaulted the woman in her home. Her friend became aware of the situation and intervened.
He “took matters into his own hands” and punched Michot in the face, knocking out the suspect, sheriff’s officials said.
The woman’s friend then detained Michot until deputies arrived and arrested the suspect. Sheriff’s officials said the woman suffered several minor injuries and was treated by medics at the scene.
Sgt. Andrew Liller, one of several sheriff’s officials who responded to the reported assault, said the woman’s friend just happened to be accompanying her home and “very well could have saved her life.”
“This case could have turned out entirely different had he not been there,” Liller said in the news release. “He is a hero.”
On Thursday, Michot remained in custody at the Nevada County Jail. His bail was set at $500,000.
Michot, a Grass Valley resident, appeared Thursday afternoon for his arraignment in court. He faces felony charges of burglary, assault with a deadly weapon that was not a firearm, false imprisonment and assault likely to cause great bodily injury, court records show.
