Burglar Breaks Into Wrong House

Monday, May 7th 2007, 12:31 pm

By: News On 6

A burglar who broke into an east Tulsa home got more than he bargained for. The home belonged to a Tulsa police officer, who was home at the time. One minute, the officer is relaxing at home with his wife and little boy, the next, he was in a fight for his life. News On 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright reports he has a broken finger, a broken tailbone and quite a story to tell.

"I came to the door and saw a guy in my garage," said Tulsa Police Officer Mark Sole.

Mark Sole saw the man stacking his tools on the riding lawn mower and knew he was face to face with a burglar. He had just opened the garage door so his wife could run to the store. As soon as he confronted the man, the man lunged and the fight was on.

"I was already screaming at my wife to call 911 cause I needed help, cause we were fighting back and forth in the garage. I'm on top. He's on top, back and forth," said Mark Sole.

His wife called, then grabbed her husband's gun and took it to him, but he was too busy fighting, so he yelled for his handcuffs instead.

"Ran back, got the handcuffs, took those back out, you could hear in Mark's voice, not scared, but tired, had been going at it. It felt like an eternity," said Stacey Sole.

"That's when he picked me up and slammed me here on the floor and was on top of me," said Mark Sole.

With the fight still raging, Stacey Sole flagged down someone driving through the neighborhood, even ran to neighbors for help.

"The man told the neighbors up the street he was the police officer and Mark was the bad guy and this guy was breaking into his house and I was screaming, no, he's the bad guy, the guy in the black shirt is the bad guy. It was chaos," she said.

Officers arrived and took a handcuffed Gregory Hytche into custody. Records show he's an ex-con. The Sole's little boy had slept through the entire ordeal. Ironically, this is the second time Mark Sole has confronted a burglar in his own home. Six years ago, another burglar broke in. Mark Sole ended up shooting that one in the hand.

"I think I'm going to put a sign up that says, cops, two, burglars, zero and keep a tally mark going," he said.

Stacey Sole says she's ready to move. Mark Sole will be on light duty the next couple of weeks while his broken finger and tailbone heal.