You really have to love this story, especially when a hometown guy takes down two dirtbags. Everyone should go to Kelly's for drinks and say thanks.
Bartender and his boss foil two convenience store burglars
A Middle Village bartender and his boss - a retired city cop - foiled two burglars escaping a convenience store Monday with stolen cash, cigars and DVDs, law enforcement sources said.
Christopher Jump, 38, and ex-NYPD Officer Michael Kelly, 37, pinned down the suspects until cops came to arrest them at 4:40a.m., according to Meris Campbell, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Christopher Jump, 38, and ex-NYPD Officer Michael Kelly, 37, pinned down the suspects until cops came to arrest them at 4:40a.m., according to Meris Campbell, a spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
The suspects, Jose Gonzalez and Raymond Manning, both 43, were charged with burglary, trespassing, criminal mischief and possessing stolen property and an unlawful radio device, Campbell said.
Sources identified the device as a police scanner, which the crooks were likely using to keep an ear out for cops in the neighborhood. The duo's plot began to unravel when Kelly, owner of Kelly's Pub on Eliot Ave. near Caldwell Ave., called Jump at 4 a.m. to remind him to lock the back door before closing for the night.
After they hung up, Jump heard two voices and - believing the men were on the pub's roof - quickly dialed Kelly, who lives nearby. Kelly dressed, grabbed his 9-mm. handgun and rushed to the pub just in time to spot the crooks exiting a back window a few doors down at D&P Stationery.
"They looked like deer in headlights," said Kelly, a cop for five years in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, until he retired in 2005. "They were scared, and they just took off running."
Kelly chased the burglars to an alley behind the pub, where he and Jump forced them to the ground at gunpoint.
Moments later, Manning feigned back pain - hoping Kelly would let his guard down - and dashed off with the ex-cop in pursuit.
"It kinda just instinctively took over - reverting back to when I was a police officer," said Kelly, who found Manning hiding beneath a car a few blocks away on 81st St.
Meanwhile, Jump noticed Gonzalez was fidgeting.
"He looked like he was contemplating running himself because his buddy just got away," Jump recalled. "I picked up a shovel and said, 'Look, buddy, you're not going anywhere.'"
Cops later discovered a garbage can full of stolen merchandise on a hand truck near the convenience store.
4 comments:
What a terrific story, so nice to hear that 'justice was served'...with a twist!!
At a time where criminals seem to have more rights than the police, nice to know these guys stepped up, it's about time we take back our community!! Great job Chris and Mike, you do a neighbor proud and your families must be proud as well!! See you at Kelly's and will thank you personally!!
Did Queens Crap post anything on this story? The JPCA always hated Kelly's Pub and have gone after the Kellys in the past.
As someone who lives in the vicinity there is much missing from this story. It did not go as smoothly as was written.
Although I applaude the fact that the two people were apprehended and the robbery was thwarted.
WHAT WAS MISSING?
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