The man credited with helping San Francisco police capture a pair of Orange County jail escapees over the weekend is an unlikely hero.

Until recently, 55-year-old Matthew Hay-Chapman was living in the botanical garden of Golden Gate Park — homeless, depressed about a string of family tragedies and unable to work because of severe back pain.

Still, he managed to stay connected to the world. Every day, he would check out online news sites at the library or find a newspaper and read it front to back in the McDonald’s by the park.

It was his obsession with current events, along with his keen eye, that led him to spot the fugitives Saturday, hanging out down the block from a police station. As a result, Hay-Chapman is in line to collect $140,000 in reward money.

“When they told me about the benefits, that didn’t matter,” Chapman said Tuesday in front of the McDonald’s at Haight and Stanyan streets, still proudly wearing the black hoodie that San Francisco police gave him as thanks for his assistance. “I was just doing the right thing.”

Hay-Chapman had already escaped living in the park, having befriended a man who lets him sleep on his couch. Now he hopes to use the reward money not just to rebuild his own life, but also to help a troubled son, disabled daughter and two young grandchildren who are in foster care in Oregon.

Life turmoil

Hay-Chapman hasn’t always been one wrong step from the streets. He was raised on military bases all over the world, one of 10 children of an Air Force colonel. Two of his eight brothers are in law enforcement.

Before his life fell apart, Hay-Chapman worked as a carpenter, as a heating and air conditioning installer, as a vault locksmith and as a hotel night manager. Then came the back pain, brought on by lifting something in 2000. It got so bad he couldn’t work.

His daughter, now 33, suffered a brain hemorrhage at birth and is severely disabled. His 30-year-old son lost custody of his two children because of struggles with drug addiction.

‘Ups and downs’

His family said Hay-Chapman has trouble staying on a steady course, but did not have a drug or alcohol problem.

“He’s had his ups and downs,” said his brother John Hay-Chapman, “He is a jack of all trades — he is a good mechanic. ... But he can be irresponsible too, and his troubles came when he followed the wrong road.”

He added, “But here is the thing about Matt: He is sharp, he reads the paper and he is up on everything.”

Back to Gallery Hard-luck hero helped police nab dangerous escapees 5 1 of 5 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle 2 of 5 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle 3 of 5 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle 4 of 5 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle 5 of 5 Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle









Matthew Hay-Chapman and his friend regularly go to the McDonald’s at the entrance of the park — and it was there, on Saturday, that Hay-Chapman was at the right place at the right time.

He was on his way into the fast-food restaurant when when he spotted a white 2008 GMC Savana van parked at the side of the Whole Foods Market on Haight. It looked like the one he used to drive when he worked as a mechanic — and then lived in when times got hard.

Recognized van

Because he’s a news junkie and has what he calls a photographic memory, Hay-Chapman realized that the van matched one that had been linked to three men who had been on the run since they escaped from the Orange County jail Jan. 22.

“I noticed the windows were all steamed up — real heavy condensation,” Hay-Chapman said. He figured someone was living inside.

Suddenly, “boom, this guy pops out of the van. I had seen him in the news,” Hay-Chapman said. “I said, ‘That’s the guy — that’s the Iranian escapee!’”

He followed the man, 37-year-old Hossein Nayeri, into the McDonald’s. Nayeri got in a line that was six people deep, while Hay-Chapman sat down at a table.

“I knew I had time,” Hay-Chapman said. “I studied the man ... because I wanted to be 100 percent sure before I go and alert the authorities.”

Once he was sure, he slipped outside. After a passerby refused to let him use a cell phone, he headed for the nearby Park police station.

Before he got there, a patrol car with two officers in it happened by. Hay-Chapman flagged them down with his metal cane.

The officers were about to confront Nayeri when a man on the street suddenly collapsed into the arms of one of them. As the police called for paramedics, Hay-Chapman kept watch for Nayeri, who soon emerged from McDonald’s with a cup of coffee.

‘Last taste of freedom’

“I call it his last taste of freedom,” Hay-Chapman said. “McDonald’s coffee is worth a lot, and he paid for it.”

With the officers preoccupied with the man who had collapsed, Nayeri “walked calmly past me, calmly with his coffee,” Hay-Chapman said. He watched as the fugitive walked down the restaurant’s steps and crouched between two parked vehicles.

“Now he pops up and he starts to walk calmly across Stanyan,” Hay-Chapman said. After a few feet, “he bolts and he runs into the park. Man, the guy was running right toward the police station.”

The officers fanned out and eventually caught up with Nayeri in front of the station. When they returned to the van, a second fugitive, 20-year-old Jonathan Tieu, was still in it.

Nayeri, who had been held on aggravated mayhem, kidnapping and torture charges, and Tieu, who was facing gang-related murder and attempted-murder charges, were returned to authorities in Orange County. The third fugitive, Bac Duong, 43, had turned himself in Friday in Santa Ana.

“Would that every citizen would be paying that much attention,” said Police Chief Greg Suhr, who confirmed Hay-Chapman’s pivotal role in the capture. “God bless him for having courage and for being that observant and that sharp.

“It is pretty amazing,” Suhr said of Hay-Chapman’s story. “He makes the neighborhood safer.”

Orange County sheriff’s officials say they will work with agencies that offered separate rewards — including the county Board of Supervisors, U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI — to deliver the money where it belongs.

Hay-Chapman figures it’s his time.

“When I was down and out, nobody wanted to help me out,” he said. He hopes that because he was “brave enough to stand up” on Saturday, the money will lead to a better life for him and his family.

Friend’s point of view

The friend who finally did help him said Hay-Chapman deserves every penny coming to him.

“He is really a straight-up guy,” said the friend, who asked that his name not be used. “He is a guy who is into doing good things for people even though he is homeless.

“He did what he was supposed to do, what people are asked to do. That money would help him straighten his life out.”

Jaxon Van Derbeken is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jvanderbeken@sfchronicle.com