To state the obvious — not to mention ripping off and paraphrasing one of Hollywood's most memorable lines — Curtis Foster was mad as heck when he saw an intruder leaving a neighbor's house, and he wasn't going to take it anymore.

At about noon on Jan. 11, Curtis was at home in northeastern Winston-Salem. It was raining, and Foster was watching television. He heard a small ruckus across the way at a home catty-corner to his and looked out the window to see what it was.

"I saw this guy step out of the house with a sack of stuff on his back like Santa Claus," Foster said.

So what to do? Shout at the man? Call 911 and wait? Stay inside and look the other way?

"I got my pistol out," Foster said matter-of-factly.

A strong protective streak

Foster is 52. He moved to Winston-Salem a few years ago after the death of his wife.

His one-story home is modern and well kept up. It's not far off Motor Road, less than a mile from Mineral Springs Elementary School. He lives with his adopted daughter, a young woman with cerebral palsy he's very protective of.

Foster is a large, gregarious man. He keeps track of crimes, car break-ins and burglaries in the area. He knows who his neighbors are, roughly what their situations are and who belongs and who doesn't.

"A single lady with kids lives over there," he said, pointing to the house where he saw the anti-Santa leaving out the back door. "I knew that wasn't right."

Seeing the burglar cut across his own yard was too much. He pulled a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and attracted the intruder's undivided attention.

"I threw down on him and said 'Don't move,' " Foster said.

The man, identified by police as 23-year-old Jason Carver, complied. Easily the best decision he made in a day marked by one really bad one.

Foster knew that if he went back inside to get his phone, the man lying face down in the yard would get up and run away. So he started yelling for help, and someone called 911.

Carver was charged with one count of felony breaking and entering. He was still in the Forsyth County Jail on Friday afternoon, and it's not his first rodeo. Among other items, he has prior convictions for felony burglary, larceny and robbery with a dangerous weapon.

The rest of the story

The official report filed online by the Winston-Salem Police Department contains only the barest of facts.

A list of items recovered at the scene. The address. Time of day. A check in a box indicating that the case resulted in an arrest.

What it doesn't specify, the narrative of what actually happened, is the fascinating part. Patrol officers assessed the situation and saw Foster pointing a gun at a man.

We got this now, sir. Could you please put that gun away?

Foster said that the minute he did so, the man he'd held for 10 or 15 minutes jumped up and claimed Foster had fired a shot at him. Police quickly determined the story was bogus; no rounds were missing, no one in the area reported hearing gunfire and there was no gunpowder residue on Foster.

Then there was this:

"I told them that if I'd have shot at him, I would have hit him," Foster said. "I was in the Marines. The guy wasn't that far away. And I know that if you point a weapon at a man, you're prepared to use it."

Were there other, better options? Certainly there will be differing opinions on that. But Foster reacted in real time and didn't have time for a lengthy internal debate.

"I'm not going to have someone breaking into my house," he said. "Material things, they can be replaced. But my daughter can't defend herself. … I'm not going to have it. Not on my watch. Not in my neighborhood."