OGDEN, Utah – It’s not a good idea to mess with the mayor, even if he isn’t very big.

Mayor Matthew Godfrey and his wife were awakened early Wednesday when somebody tried to break into their house through a side and then a rear door. Godfrey jumped out of bed, checked on his children and went outside.

“He was heading across the front lawn riding a bike of ours,” Godfrey said. “I ran him down and tackled him, wrestled him and put him in a headlock.”

He held the man down while his wife called 911.

Curtis Poorman, 20, was arrested for investigation of burglary, robbery, public intoxication, illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor, possession of marijuana – “we’ll stop there,” police Lt. Scott Sangberg said.

The mayor is “half the burglar’s size,” police Chief Jon Greiner said with a trace of exaggeration.

Godfrey, a long-distance runner, stands 5-foot-6 and weighs 135 pounds. Poorman, 20, weighs 163 pounds on a 5-foot-11 frame, jail records said.

The mayor, whose only injury was a cut behind one ear, has made reducing crime an issue in his re-election campaign. Asked if it was wise to take on an intruder in an early morning break-in, Godfrey said he would encourage others to let the police handle it.

“It should be left to mayors who are determined to make their streets safe and the police. Everyone else should call 911,” he said.

The man Godfrey tackled is no stranger.

“He’s from a family that we know and love and respect. They’re good friends of ours, and they just have a wayward child,” Godfrey said. “I taught this young man in church.”

Greiner said Poorman was awaiting trial on charges involving two previous garage burglaries but had been allowed to remain free without bail.

“With this case, I just heard about it,” said his attorney, J.D. Poorman – a distant cousin who said he had “no clue” what happened. “It’s like what I tell my son: Between 18 and 25, that’s what I call the stupid years.”

From an Associated Press report