Homeowner, pedestrians capture burglar: cops

A Greenburgh homeowner discovered a burglar hiding in a closet Sunday, confronted him, chased him with a posse of pedestrians and detained him for police, police said.

The suspect, Bryan Mitchell, 20, who is homeless, is also a suspect in a burglary minutes earlier in Scarsdale that was also interrupted by the homeowner. He had items taken from that burglary, Scarsdale police said.

Scarsdale police said that the first burglary occurred at about 11 a.m. on Sunday on Fox Meadow Road while the homeowner was at home. The homeowner, who was not identified, reported hearing "noise in an attached sunroom," according to a police news release.

She walked in on the burglar, a man, who then fled with some valuables.

Within minutes, officers were searching the neighborhood of pricy Tudors and colonials, where the median sales price of a single-family home is $2.14 million, according to Redfin, the online real estate site. Neighboring departments, including Greenburgh, were alerted.

A few minutes later, a homeower on Club Way in Greenburgh's Edgemont section found Mitchell hiding in a closet and confronted him, Greenburgh police said. The intruder fled toward East Hartsdale Avenue, but the homeowner took off in pursuit. Several pedestrians on East Hartsdale helped out, and Mitchell was detained at 234 E. Hartsdale Ave. for the police.

Mitchell had items taken from both the Scarsdale and Edgemont homes, police said. Mitchell was charged in Greenburgh with second-degree burglary, a felony. Scarsdale police said they would file charges after the suspect had been processed by Greenburgh.

The Edgemont homeowner and the pedestrians were uninjured.

Greenburgh police ask anyone with information about the burglaries to contact them at 914-989-1725.

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