Police: Paralyzed man watched robbers break in

Man lay defenseless as robbers searched home

DAVE STEPHENS
Tribune Staff Writer
November 24. 2009 6:11PM

A paralyzed man, unable to get out of his bed, was forced to watch two men rob his home Sunday and could only call for help after a friend arrived, police said.

St. Joseph County police say the robbery occurred at a home on Grove Street, west of the South Bend city limits, sometime in the early evening.

Sgt. Bill Redman, St. Joseph County police spokesman, said police were called to the home about 8:50 p.m. on the report that a robbery had taken place.

Police arrived to find the homeowner, who said his home had been broken into by two men, one who placed a T-shirt over the paralyzed man's face as the robbers searched the home.

The homeowner told police said he thought the two men had been slowly driving by his home and through the neighborhood all day in an older model blue pickup truck, as if checking to see whether anyone was home.

Police said the two men broke into the home by breaking a rear window. After placing the shirt over the homeowner's face, they then stole his laptop computer and a $100 bill that the man had on a dresser.

The man told police that the two men then left, leaving him unable to call police or close the window that had been broken.

A friend stopping by the home was able to call police, but officers were unable to find the blue truck or any suspects.