By Karen Zautyk
NUTLEY –
A brazen second-story man was arrested last week after he broke into a Walnut St. home in the middle of the day but was confronted by the frightened victim’s neighbor who had rushed to her aid, police reported. The intruder fled on foot but was tracked down and arrested in Belleville a short time later.
Nutley Det. Anthony Montanari said the home invasion occurred around 2:15 p.m., Tuesday, July 5. The suspect reportedly rang the front doorbell, but the woman occupant of home would not answer because she did not recognize the man.
Minutes later, while she was in the kitchen preparing lunch, she heard a bang and then footsteps coming from upstairs. She went outside and saw that a second-floor window had been opened and the screen removed. Montanari said the intruder had climbed onto the roof from a porch railing.
The woman called 911 and then ran to the neighbor’s house. Montanari said the neighbor went into her home “and came face-to-face with the intruder“ on the second floor. “The actor tried forcing a door closed on the neighbor and then climbed out the same window and slid down a leader pipe before running south on Walnut St.,” the detective said.
To read the full story, see this week’s issue of The Observer.
