A first-year Harvard student foiled an attempted burglary in Harvard Yard Wednesday night.

After discovering an intruder in his room on the first floor of Stoughton Hall South, Bradley J. Soltis '01 said he chased the man out of his dorm and called the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD).

When they arrived five minutes later, the police were unable to find the suspect.

"The student most definitely did the right thing," said Peggy A. McNamara, a spokesperson for the HUPD.

She emphasized that Soltis was correct "not to invade [the intruder's] ... space."

"We'd all prefer that students let the police officers do their job," McNamara said.

Soltis said he was seated at his desk playing Pac-Man on his computer when he heard the back door to his double-occupancy suite open at about 1:20 a.m.

Soltis assumed his roommate, who had been out that evening, was returning and didn't turn around before saying, "Hi, Matt."

According to Soltis, the intruder responded, "Oh, shit," and moved toward the door.

Soltis said he then called out, "Can I help you? Can I help you?" as he followed the man, who was retreating quickly into the Yard.

Soltis went back to his room and phoned the HUPD, he said. The police arrived at the scene in "about five minutes," Soltis estimated.

Five HUPD officers engaged in a Yard-wide search, communicating by walkie-talkie with an officer who stayed in Soltis's room to file a report, Soltis said.

Detectives on the case are trying to learn how the intruder gained access to the room.

They are fairly certain that after passing through a rear entrance to Stoughton South, the man apparently walked into Soltis's room through an unlockedhandicap door. It is not known how the intruderentered the building, which requires key-cardaccess.

Soltis described the suspect as a man in hisearly 30s with a full brown beard, "kind of longhair," and eyeglasses. The intruder was about sixfeet tall, 200 pounds, and was wearing a longgreen ski parka, Soltis said.

McNamara said detectives are "looking back atother incidents, not just the latest crimes, andare working on a global query" of the HUPD systemto identify the suspect. "The criminalinvestigators are working on it," she said, butshe could not confirm that a composite sketch hadbeen drawn.

Asked whether Soltis's description matches anyof those given by other recent crime victims,McNamara said, "To the best of my knowledge, no.