A Florida man wearing Batman pyjamas jumped into action to thwart a burglary, police say

Kyle Myvett, centre, poses with police officers in his Batman pyjamas after detaining a burglary suspect in Cape Coral, Florida, last week. Photo / Cape Coral Police Department via The Washington Post

The crime alert came in early in morning, and a man in a Batman onesie jumped out of bed and set out in the dark to look for the prowler.

A few minutes later, he sneaked up on a suspect and grabbed his shirt and right wrist.

“If you try to do anything, you’re going to go to the floor,” the crime fighter recalled saying. “And it’s going to be painful.”

It wasn’t until the police arrived that Batman’s identity was revealed: Kyle Myvett, 47, a general contractor from Cape Coral, Florida.

Myvett was asleep in his black and yellow Batman pyjamas last Wednesday local time when his wife awoke him.

Their security system alerted her that someone was in their driveway.

While the suspect had fled by the time Myvett ran outside, Myvett roamed the neighbourhood in his black Ram 2500 truck until he spotted the suspect, detained him and handed him over to the Cape Coral police.

Before Myvett left, officers asked for a photo with him.

“It was good to see Batman, you know, keeping Cape Coral safe,” Cape Coral Police Detective Michael Scarlato told the Washington Post.

Myvett, who said he’s a superhero “nerd,” bought the extra-large onesie in 2016 to match pyjamas he got his daughter, Kyrah, a few years earlier. It even came with a mask, Myvett said, which he’s “pretty sure” his wife, Diana, threw away.

While Kyrah no longer wears her Batman pyjamas, Myvett’s onesie, which he calls his “uniform”, soon became his favourite. He wears it whenever he wants a good night of sleep.

He was in the middle of a restful slumber when Diana saw a security alert on her phone while getting up and woke Myvett around 1.45am.

The footage showed someone wearing all black and holding a flashlight opening the passenger door of Myvett’s truck and looking through the glove box.

Myvett drove a few houses down when he saw a neighbour’s garage was open and kept watch on the house until he spotted someone trying to enter the garage, he said. Myvett parked in the street and grabbed the suspect from behind, he said.

The suspect complied when Myvett, a former correctional officer and martial arts teacher, told him to put his arms in front of him and sit on the concrete, Myvett said. The neighbour called 911, and Myvett held the suspect for about two minutes before police arrived.

When Scarlato got to the scene, his colleagues pointed to Myvett and explained what had happened.

“You’re telling me that guy in the Batman pyjamas detained the bad guy?” Scarlato recalled replying.

Police said the suspect stole two pairs of Ray-Ban sunglasses from Myvett’s glove box and other items from neighbours’ vehicles.

The suspect, a 20-year-old man, was charged with various burglary charges, as well as theft under US$750, and is being held at the Lee County jail, according to jail records.

About two hours after detaining the suspect and posing for a photo, Myvett returned home and - still in his Batman pyjamas - fell back asleep around 4.30am. He woke up about three hours later and changed into his uniform for his day job running his contracting company called That 1 Company.

“We do remodels, rebuilds, new construction, restoration and design,” Myvett said. “And now we’re going to add crime fighting.”

That night, Myvett put his Batman pyjamas back on, ready to wake up and take action if he was called upon again.

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