Los Angeles Police Department officers arrested a man Thursday afternoon shortly after a witness heard the sound of a window breaking at an apartment complex on the 2000 block of Yosemite Drive and saw the man fleeing with another man, allegedly with stolen goods.
The officers responded at about 3 p.m. to a 911 call from the witness, who was waiting to pick up his son from Eagle Rock High School in an SUV he had parked on the Maywood Avenue and Yosemite Drive crossing.
One of the two alleged burglars was taken into custody on Yosemite Drive, near the Eagle Rock Boulevard crossing, after they fled to Fair Park Avenue, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Fernando Ochoa told Eagle Rock Patch. The other man could not be found, despite assistance from an LAPD helicopter.
The men were carrying a briefcase and a guitar case, allegedly stolen from the apartment, Ochoa said.
Some of the officers who responded to the 911 call were part of a task force aimed at identifying burglars in the Round Top Drive area of Eagle Rock, where burglaries have intensified lately, Ochoa said.
In a bizarre twist to the incident, the Eagle Rock High School parent who called 911 returned to the alleged crime scene with his children still in his Ford Explorer SUV and told the officers that he had spotted the second suspect near the Burger King store on Eagle Rock Boulevard.
Officers sped to the Burger King and scouted the area all the way to the Starbucks store on Colorado Boulevard but couldn’t find anyone matching the description of the second suspect—a heavy-set man sporting a beard and wearing suspenders and a brown jacket. (A heavy-set, bearded man was spotted near Starbucks but he wore neither suspenders nor a brown jacket.)
The officers are hopeful, however, that they will be able to identify the second suspect after detectives interview his alleged accomplice.
Related: LAPD Arrests 2 People For Alleged Car Burglaries in Eagle Rock
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