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HELPED HIM CATCH A THIEF. >> WHEN I SAW IT WHEN IT FIRST HAPPENED, I WAS LIKE, NO AND THEN IMMEDIATELY, IT JUST CLICKED IN MY HEAD. EMILY: WHEN RETIRED BRENTWOOD POLICE OFFICER HARRY KHANGURA PULLED UP TO HIS SISTER’S HOUSE YESTERDAY, HE NOTICED SOMETHING STRANGE. >> THIS GUY WAS FALLING OVER HIMSELF TRYING TO THROW IT IN THE CAR. EMILY: ELK GROVE POLICE SAY THIS MAN, 39-YEAR-OLD BRIAN MARSHALL, WAS STEALING PACKAGES FROM A PORCH. INVESTIGATORS SAY TWO OTHER PEOPLE WERE ON THE CAR, ONE WAS DRIVING, THE OTHER WAS IN THE BACKSEAT. >> SEEING THEM ALL PANICKY, TRYING TO GET THE PACKAGE SO THE GUY COULD SIT IN THE CAR, AND THEN DRIVING WITH DOOR KIND OF OPEN WHILE HE TRIED TO SLAM IT SHUT. IT WAS JUST LIKE, OH MY LORD. HE JUMPS IN THE CAR AND HE SPED OFF THIS WAY. EMILY: KHANGURA’S EIGHT YEARS OF POLICE EXPERIENCE KICKED INTO GEAR. >> THERE WAS NO HESITATION IN DOING ANYTHING, FOR ME IT WAS JUST, I’VE GOT TO DO A, B, C, D. I’VE GOT TO GET THE CAR, DESCRIBE IT, GET THEM ON THE PHONE AND START FOLLOWING. >> HE PUT HIS WHITE MINIVAN TO WORK, DRIVING THROUGH NEIGHBORHOODS, GIVING POLICE INFORMATION AND WATCHING AS THE MAN THREW THE STOLEN BOXES OUT THE CAR WINDOW. >> THE WHOLE TIME I WAS THINKING, OH MY GOD, ALL ITS GOING TO TAKE IS ONE CAR TO COME IN FRONT OF THIS GUY AND THERES NO WAY ON GOD’S GREEN EARTH THAT THESE GUYS ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO STOP. EMILY: DURING THE CHASE, KHANGURA SAYS THE CAR DID STOP AND THE MAN GOT OUT. >> ONE OF THE GUYS PULLED OUT A KNIFE AND STARTED WALKING TOWARD ME. EMILY: KHANGURA OUT PULLED HIS GUN, THE FORMER POLICE OFFICER HAS A CONCEALED CARRY PERMIT. >> AT THAT POINT, THEY REALIZED THAT THEY CONFRONTED THE WRONG PERSON. EMILY: BUT THE MAN KEPT WALKING. KHANGURA KNEW THE SITUATION COULD GET WORSE. >> THERE WAS A REFLECTOR IN THE ROADWAY AND THAT REFLECTOR WAS MY LINE IN THE SAND. IF THEY PASS OVER THAT REFLECTOR, WE’RE KIND OF IN NO MAN’S LAND. EMILY: BEFORE THE MAN CROSSED THAT LINE, HE GOT BACK IN THE CAR, SPEEDING OFF AGAIN BEFORE FINALLY GETTING CAUGHT BY ELK GROVE POLICE. KHANGURA AND THE OFFICERS RETURNED THE STOLEN PACKAGES LATER THAT DAY. >> IF WE DON’T FOLLOW THROUGH IN MAKING THIS COMMUNITY SAFE, THEN SHAME ON US. AND WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO COMPLAIN TO ANYONE ELSE IN REGARDS TO HOW THE COMMUNITY ENDS UP. EMILY: EMILY MAHER, KCRA 3 N

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A retired officer helped Elk Grove police catch a suspected package thief.Harry Khangura, a retired Brentwood police officer, pulled up to his sister’s house Wednesday afternoon and noticed something strange. “When it first happened, I was like, ‘No,’ and then, immediately, it just clicked in my head,” Khangura said. “This guy was falling over himself trying to throw it in the car.”Elk Grove police said Brian Marshall, 39, was stealing packages from a porch. Investigators said two other people were in the car, one was driving, the other was in the backseat.“Seeing them all panicky, trying to get the packages, so the guy could sit in the car and then driving with the door kind of open while he tried to slam it,” Khangura said. “It was just like, ‘Oh my, Lord.’”Even after being off the job for two years, Khangura’s eight years of police experience kicked into gear. He was forced to retire after an on-duty injury.“There was no hesitation in doing anything,” Khangura said. “For me, it was just, ‘I’ve got to do A, B, C, D. I’ve got to get the car, describe it, get them on the phone and start following.'”He put his white minivan to work and started following the suspects. At one point, Khangura said the man started throwing the stolen packages out the car window.“The whole time I was thinking, ‘Oh my, God -- all it’s going to take is one car to come in front of this guy and there’s no way on God’s green earth that these guys are going to be able to stop,” he said.During the chase, Khangura said the car did stop and the man got out.“One of the guys pulled out a knife and started walking toward me,” Khangura said.Khangura then pulled out his gun. The former police officer has a concealed weapon carry permit.“At that point, they realized they confronted the wrong person,” he said.But, the man kept walking. Khangura knew the situation could get worse.“There was a reflector in the roadway,” he said. “That reflector was my line in the sand. If they pass over that reflector, we’re kind of in no man’s land.”Before the man crossed that line, he got back in the car, speeding off, again, before finally being caught by Elk Grove police.Khangura and the officers returned the stolen packages later that day.“If we don’t follow through in making this community safe, then shame on us,” Khangura said. “We have no right to complain to anyone else in regard to how the community ends up.”Marshall, the suspected porch thief, is being held at the Sacramento County jail on $10,000 bail.