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‘BURGLAR’ BEATEN AFTER CHILLING ENCOUNTER

NY Post

Residents of a Crown Heights building beat up a serial burglar after he broke into an apartment, then held him for the cops, police said yesterday.

Dale Shields — whose long criminal record includes at least seven prior arrests and several convictions for burglary-related offenses — was roughed up by the residents of 881 Eastern Parkway. He was treated at Kings County Hospital for bruises and a minor head wound.

Shields, 39, is charged with burglary, attempted assault, menacing, trespass, possession of burglars’ tools, criminal mischief and harassment, a law-enforcement source said.

The people who beat him up have not been charged, a spokesman for the Brooklyn DA said.

Shields is black, and his attackers are Jewish, but what happened between them is not being investigated as a bias incident, cops said.

A law-enforcement source said Shields and an accomplice were in the lobby when they attracted the attention of a resident, who promptly called 911 and hid with his wife, who is 81/2 months pregnant, in a back bedroom.

But before the cops arrived, Shields and the accomplice broke down the apartment door and began rummaging about, the resident, still visibly shaken a day later, told The Post last night.

“I just put all of my weight on that bedroom door, pushing against it, anything to protect my wife,” said the 24-year-old man, who requested anonymity.

Eventually, the terrified man left the relative safety of the bedroom.

“I had to know what I was dealing with,” he said. “It could have been a man with a knife or a 10-year-old kid. Who knew?”

Instead, he encountered Shields, who swung a hammer at him but missed, police said. The man quickly returned to his wife in the bedroom.

Shields, meanwhile, allegedly tried to flee — only to find himself surrounded and eventually subdued by some of the building’s other residents, who had heard the commotion.

His alleged accomplice escaped.

The man whose apartment was burglarized said his wife won’t stay there now until a high-security door has been installed.

“She’s very shaken up,” he said.

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9 Comments

  • Anonymous

    Because officially there were no shmira there, they all claim to be residents of the building.

  • a concerned citizen

    so if your a resident yo ucan beat someone senseless in public???

  • Anonymous

    If that is the necessary step that was needed to take so that this man wouldn’t hurt either the husband or the wife, yes you need to do that, its called vigilantism.

    One should never resort to violence, that is our distinction point, if we were to then we wouldn’t be any better then them.

    In this case the burglar was wielding a hammer and even took a swing at the couple, the steps taken were 100% necessary.

    So in a word, no you’re not aloud to, but if the circumstances require it, don’t hold back.

  • a concerned citizen

    they beat while he was running away and on the ground
    although i agree he deserves a beating… he is still a human being

  • Anonymous

    He was trying to get away, and the residents of the building made sure he didn’t, may I add that his accomplice got away. And yes he is a human being who has a long criminal record includes at least seven prior arrests and several convictions for burglary-related offenses.

  • a concerned citizen

    so the hechts are residents on eastern parkway?
    funny, for the longest time i thought they lived on union street