NEW ROCHELLE, NY — New Rochelle Police lured, then captured, a burglary suspect from a hiding place on Davenport Neck with the aid of an intrepid taxi driver following a 75 minute police chase that involved more than a dozen police officers, a K-9 unit, and a helicopter unit.
The man was arrested and charged with Burglary in the Second Degree.
The incident began at about 10:30 this morning when a man was observed peering into a window at 294 Church Street. Not long after, a woman came home to 209 Davenport to find a young man with blood on his hand in her house in what was initially reported as a home invasion generating an all-hands-on-deck response from New Rochelle police.
Trinity Elementary School and Isaac E. Young Middle School were put on lockdown/lockout. New Rochelle Police cars were positioned at Trinity school while officers set up a perimeter and an aviation unit from the Westchester County Police Department hovered overhead.
Police received word from Green Team Taxi that a man had requested a taxi but did not know exactly where he was near Davenport Avenue. Police cars and the helicopter were pulled back and an NRPD Detective met the driver on Pelham Road near Trinity School and got into the taxi.
The Green Team Taxi dispatcher remained on the line with the suspect as the taxi driver and detective cruised the area around Davenport Avenue. After several minutes the suspect told the dispatcher to stop the car, that he could see the taxi. At that point, other police units moved towards the location, an unoccupied house at 27 Rodman Oval. The suspect came out from around the back of the house where he had been hiding. The detective spotted him. exited the taxi and confronted the suspect.
The suspect told police he lived at the house. An officer called the owner who told police that no such person lived at the house. The suspect was placed in the back of a police car and later taken to police headquarters where he was questioned and then charged. Sources tell Talk of the Sound the incident we drug-involved.
UPDATE 9/8/17: NRPD Captain Robert Gazzola, “New Rochelle Police arrested Najib M. Hood, 26, of 56 Madeline Avenue in New Rochelle related to the interrupted burglary that occurred on 9/7/17 at 9:38 am at 219 Davenport Ave. He has been charged with Burglary 2nd degree and is in our custody awaiting arraignment.
