Man gets injured protecting business from thieves

There's a thief somewhere in North Texas with some serious injuries.

He got roughed up when he and his buddy tried to steal from the wrong business.

They tangled with a former police officer who was guarding the place.

Early Saturday morning, Chip Ferguson was working security at Next Generation Moving and Storage in Fort Worth when he heard a noise.

"It was the sound of a truck running and then the lights flickered inside,” said Ferguson.

The security cameras that were installed just two days prior were rolling.

They caught the thieves pulling up in their truck and then backing it up near the electrical boxes on the back of the building.

One man is seen walking around the fence.

Police say he was hooking a chain up to the electrical conduit.

Soon after, another man comes over and steals the company's water cooler.

The truck started to accelerate, cutting the power and stopping the cameras. That's when Ferguson confronted the robbers, yelling at them to stop.

"That truck was bouncing,” said Ferguson. “It was floored. The wheels were spinning dirt and rocks were going everywhere."

He was armed with a wooden club. His first swing knocked out the driver's side window, and his second hit its mark.

"At the same time the club hit him, he hollered out for the passenger, telling him he give up,” said Ferguson. “’Help me, help me!’” I give up, but the wheels and the tires kept spinning. He kept flooring it and the truck broke loose. The electricity gave way from the side of the building…the conduit, the truck jumped bounced about three or four feet, and when it did, it knocked me down.”

Ferguson had a severe injury to his arm. He says the front wheel ran over his foot and that the electricity arched and flashed when it all broke loose.

The suspects quickly drove away.

"It scared me,” said Ferguson. “It'd scare any man out here doing something like that, because you're not expecting that. Thank God we're still alive right now, because it's not about being a hero in this situation. It's a situation where I'm able to stand here and tell everybody what happened, and I'm grateful to be alive.”

Ferguson told detectives that he heard the men call out their names.

One was Don and one was Chad.

The rear driver's side window as covered with plastic and tape.

The driver's side window had tape around the edge of the windows.