District 16 Metro Councilman Mike Freeman was standing at the back of his property on Tanksley Avenue in South Nashville on Tuesday afternoon, talking with a local television news crew when he saw a wanted man.

Metro police had been searching for Jason Williams since Monday morning, when he allegedly raped and kidnapped a woman near Belmont University, forcing her to drive him to a nearby bank and withdraw cash from an ATM. He'd been spotted on Tanksley Avenue Tuesday morning, but he jumped a fence and got away.

With police cars positioned outside his home, Freeman says he thought — being the neighborhood's council representative — he'd step outside and talk to one of the officers. When he did, he was told bluntly, "Please get back in your home.”

“I was like, ‘OK that was pretty firm,’ " Freeman tells the Scene. "So I went back in my house.”

Come Tuesday afternoon, a local television station had called him to ask for an interview, interested to hear the experience of a local elected official whose neighborhood was the site of a manhunt. The crew walked back toward the rear of his property and filmed him as he detailed the experience, describing the site of police dogs scouring his and his neighbors' backyards, checking crawlspaces for the fugitive.

And that's when he saw Williams, standing with his back against a neighbor's house.

“And I was like, 'Holy crap, that’s him,' " Freeman says. "So I pointed, I was like, ‘That is him, get your phone, call 911.’ ”

While the news crew rushed to call the authorities, Freeman took off running, through his backyard, over a fence and down the street as Williams fled. By the time got to Collier Avenue, Williams had ducked between houses. By the time Freeman caught up, he was nowhere to be found.

Soon after, a swarm of cops arrived and, after spotting Williams themselves, gave chase — through a creek bed and a culvert, according to police — ultimately arresting him.

Freeman says he didn't really think twice about whether or not to chase Williams. He didn't really have time.

“I thought, 'Well, I’ll just run after him, and when I see a police car I’ll tell them, ‘Yeah, he’s a block ahead of me,' ” he says.

Freeman served in the Marine Corps from 1996 to 2000 and says he wasn't too concerned about what might happen if he caught up.

“The police officers did all the work," he says. "I just happened to see him.”

“The rest of the evening we were just like, ‘Wow, that really happened.’ And it had a good outcome for the city of Nashville and the citizens and my neighbors. Hopefully, if he turns out to be the perpetrator of that crime, he spends a nice long time in jail.”

Williams is charged with especially aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery.