WENATCHEE — A security guard at the Wenatchee Valley Medical Center and another man stopped a suspected car prowler Saturday night and held him until Wenatchee police arrived.

The incident began when an emergency room technician at the medical center reported to a security guard about 10 p.m. that he saw a man acting suspiciously in the parking lot, said Sgt. Cherie Smith of the Wenatchee Police Department. When the security guard arrived at the parking lot, the suspicious man was across Chelan Avenue in front of the Masonic Center but, within a few minutes, the man walked back to the WVMC parking lot.

The security guard walked up behind the man as he was rummaging through the glove box of a Dodge Durango, Smith said.

The guard attempted to hold the man by the arm but the suspect broke loose and ran across Chelan Street to the Hastings parking lot, Smith said. The security guard, in pursuit, yelled for help from a man and woman from Kent who were outside the store smoking cigarettes. The woman called 911 on her cell phone while the Kent man stopped the suspect, at one point slamming him into the back of a pickup and denting the tailgate.

The Kent man, whom Smith called “a good Samaritan,” and the security guard then got the suspect on the ground and held him until police arrived.

Near the Durango, were a necklace, cell phone and digital camera, which police suspect the prowler took and then dropped.

Arrested on suspicion of second-degree vehicle prowl and third-degree theft was a 21-year-old Peshastin man. Smith said the suspect told police he was in Wenatchee with his mother, who was shopping at a nearby grocery store, and he decided to prowl cars to kill time while he waited for her.

Dee Riggs: 664-7147

deeriggs@wenatcheeworld.com