They actually did call the police. Then chased him anyway.
Here's the transcript:
Caller: Theres a guy in the house right now, its under construction.
Dispatcher: And you said someones breaking into it right now?
Caller: No, its all open. Its under construction ... and there he goes right now.
Dispatcher: OK, what is he doing?
Caller: He is running down the street.
Dispatcher: Thats fine I will get police out there. I just need to know what he was doing wrong. Was he just on the premises and not supposed to be?
Caller: He has been caught on camera a bunch at night. Its kind of an ongoing thing. The man building the house has got heart issues. I think hes not going to finish it.
Dispatch: OK, thats fine. And you said he was a male in a black T-shirt?
Caller: White T-shirt. Black guy, white T-shirt. Hes done run into the neighborhood again.
Then for some reason they hung up. Grabbed their gun, jumped in a truck, chased him and called the cops 2nd time
Caller: Im out here at Satilla Shores, theres a black male running down the street.
Dispatch: Where at Satilla Shores?
Caller: I dont know what street were on. Stop! Watch that. Stop. Stop.
The caller does not respond to dispatch after that.
And by their own version of events, they jumped out of the truck yelling with guns drawn and then the guy attacked them.
It seems pretty indefensible to me.
Even then they should be smart and not get involved. They have absolutely zero crisis intervention training that could have been employed. Worst of all what if the guy was armed. The father put his son's well-being in danger.
There's a big difference how people react if a police officer confronts someone rather than 2 armed civilians. Officer presence is an actual thing and most people would not act irrationally if they were stopped by an officer.