By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

He only had time to react.

After deciding to investigate the cause of loud cries and screams coming from an apartment near his girlfriend's home, Greg Bryant was thrust into a situation he was not prepared for.

Inside the 18-year-old woman's apartment, police said, was 32-year-old registered sex offender Allen Brian Kari.

Kari eventually was charged with rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated burglary and obstruction of justice.

Bryant used a container of pepper spray on Kari, who police said fled the apartment and was captured a half block away after attempting to run from police.

That was nearly three months ago, and Bryant, an assistant football coach at Fort Hays State University, hasn't forgotten the details of that day in late August.

"There was never really a sense of nervousness," he said in an interview this month, only "total alertness."

"You get kind of a numbing feeling. ... You try to react to everything."

Bryant said he could tell something was out of place when his girlfriend contacted him.

"It didn't seem right for her to be calling me, especially in the middle of the night like that," he said. "And just the tone of her voice was pretty bad."

He said he was told about the noise coming from a neighbor's apartment and asked if he could come over.

"It was more of a situation to just go over there and comfort (his girlfriend) and make sure she was OK," he said.

His girlfriend might have been, but the victim obviously was not, and Bryant decided to investigate.

"When I said I was going to the apartment," he said, "we still didn't have an idea, have a clue, of what was going on, and that was more of a situation where we're trying to help out people, but we didn't know we were helping them out like that."

When he reached the apartment, the door was cracked open.

"One thing led to another after that," he said. "There was a sense that you don't really know what to do, you just try to act upon your best judgement."

Kari appeared in court Monday for arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty to the charges. A jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 22 to 23.

Before Kari's preliminary hearing in mid-October, Bryant's name was kept confidential by police and the county attorney's office, being identified only as "a third person" in early press releases.

He has kept his involvement in the event close to the vest out of respect for the victim.

"She's still around," he said, "So she has to live her life. So that was a situation that I didn't want to make anything of it."

Bryant said he wasn't seeking any recognition for the part he played in Kari's arrest.

"I chose not to talk about it," he said. "It really wasn't my situation. It was something I was part of."

After the incident, Assistant Hays Police Chief Phil Hartsfield called Bryant "heroic," saying "a good member of the community did the right thing and saved this woman."

Bryant's boss, FHSU head football coach Kevin Verdugo, said Bryant is "a tremendous individual in every aspect of his life ... (who) always goes out of his way to help people."

A father of two, Verdugo said one of the best things he could hope for would be if his children "grew up to be like Greg Bryant."

Bryant said he's always tried to adhere to that helpful attitude and hopes those around him know that "I'd do whatever I can to help them out."

Although he is glad he was able to come to the aid of the victim, Bryant said this was one instance he wished his presence wouldn't have been necessary.

"There's a happy ending to it to a point, but everyone still got hurt at the same time," he said.