This could of turned out so horribly wrong. Yet another reason ccw permits could of helped, but lucky enough it didn't go bad. And the BG got caught. Syracuse.com is the site. Ya never know these days. Carry always and pray to never need it.
Town of Onondaga man comes home to find burglar in his driveway
Charles Ellis / The Post-Standard 01/01/2012 5:36 PM
When Joshua McBennett returned to his town of Onondaga home a little before 10 a.m. on Dec. 18, he noticed an unfamiliar minivan parked in the driveway.
Its engine was still running, and some of the doors were open, so McBennett, 35, decided to look inside the van. His first thought was that maybe a parent of one of the kids sledding in his neighbor’s backyard had parked in the wrong driveway.
“After looking inside the van, I got a bit suspicious, because the van was trashed — as if someone were living inside the vehicle,” McBennett said. “I walked over to my front door to look inside my house, and look for footprints in the snow leading over to my neighbor’s backyard, where the kids were sledding. ... (Then), I heard my wife frantically yelling at me, ‘Josh, Josh, he’s got our laptop!’”
McBennett said he turned around and saw the man jump into the van.
“I reached the van just as he was closing the door,” McBennett said. “I opened up the door, and he put the van in drive and demolished my garage. After he crashed into my garage, I grabbed him and was in the process of pulling him out, when he put the van in reverse. I had to let him go when the driver’s side door slammed into my side, and I was nearly knocked to the ground underneath the van. He then crashed into my SUV, with my wife and kids still inside.”
Then, McBennett said, the minivan stalled.
“I heard my kids screaming and crying, at which point I again lunged at the minivan, but he closed and locked the door,” he said.
McBennett’s wife, Meghan, got out of the car and called 911 as the man kept trying to restart his van. The children, age 7 and 5, stayed in the car.
McBennett, meanwhile, pounded on the driver’s side window. “I knew if I could get to him, he could no longer pose a threat to my family,” he said.
McBennett said this went on for nearly 10 minutes as his wife called their neighbors for help.
“He got his second wind and came up with an escape plan,” McBennett said of the man. “He reached to his hip, grabbed a knife and showed it to me.
“I yelled to my wife that he had a knife and for her to get (back) in our vehicle and lock the doors. He crawled over to the passenger seat, opened the door and fled. Seeing that he was moving away from my family, and not wanting to risk getting stabbed, I let him flee.”
A neighbor who was watching called 911 at 10:19 a.m., according to 911 records, and told the dispatcher that the burglar had run away, McBennett said.
State troopers Michael Filippi and Robert Krenrich from LaFayette were dispatched. They later found and arrested Michael J. Piontkowski, 27, of 8163 Scotia Lane, Liverpool, on Parapet Drive in the town of Onondaga, said Trooper Jack L. Keller.
Piontkowski was charged with first-degree burglary, a felony; second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor; and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor, Keller said.
Piontkowski was arraigned in Onondaga Town Court and sent to the Justice Center in lieu of $20,000 cash/bond. He remains in custody.
McBennett, a network engineer for AT&T, said he has no idea why anyone would try to burglarize his house in his suburban neighborhood. The McBennetts own two large dogs — friendly mutts, but large enough to make a prospective burglar think twice, he said.
“That’s kind of the million-dollar question,” he said. “I just don’t know. It had to be completely random.”
Town of Onondaga man comes home to find burglar in his driveway
Charles Ellis / The Post-Standard 01/01/2012 5:36 PM
When Joshua McBennett returned to his town of Onondaga home a little before 10 a.m. on Dec. 18, he noticed an unfamiliar minivan parked in the driveway.
Its engine was still running, and some of the doors were open, so McBennett, 35, decided to look inside the van. His first thought was that maybe a parent of one of the kids sledding in his neighbor’s backyard had parked in the wrong driveway.
“After looking inside the van, I got a bit suspicious, because the van was trashed — as if someone were living inside the vehicle,” McBennett said. “I walked over to my front door to look inside my house, and look for footprints in the snow leading over to my neighbor’s backyard, where the kids were sledding. ... (Then), I heard my wife frantically yelling at me, ‘Josh, Josh, he’s got our laptop!’”
McBennett said he turned around and saw the man jump into the van.
“I reached the van just as he was closing the door,” McBennett said. “I opened up the door, and he put the van in drive and demolished my garage. After he crashed into my garage, I grabbed him and was in the process of pulling him out, when he put the van in reverse. I had to let him go when the driver’s side door slammed into my side, and I was nearly knocked to the ground underneath the van. He then crashed into my SUV, with my wife and kids still inside.”
Then, McBennett said, the minivan stalled.
“I heard my kids screaming and crying, at which point I again lunged at the minivan, but he closed and locked the door,” he said.
McBennett’s wife, Meghan, got out of the car and called 911 as the man kept trying to restart his van. The children, age 7 and 5, stayed in the car.
McBennett, meanwhile, pounded on the driver’s side window. “I knew if I could get to him, he could no longer pose a threat to my family,” he said.
McBennett said this went on for nearly 10 minutes as his wife called their neighbors for help.
“He got his second wind and came up with an escape plan,” McBennett said of the man. “He reached to his hip, grabbed a knife and showed it to me.
“I yelled to my wife that he had a knife and for her to get (back) in our vehicle and lock the doors. He crawled over to the passenger seat, opened the door and fled. Seeing that he was moving away from my family, and not wanting to risk getting stabbed, I let him flee.”
A neighbor who was watching called 911 at 10:19 a.m., according to 911 records, and told the dispatcher that the burglar had run away, McBennett said.
State troopers Michael Filippi and Robert Krenrich from LaFayette were dispatched. They later found and arrested Michael J. Piontkowski, 27, of 8163 Scotia Lane, Liverpool, on Parapet Drive in the town of Onondaga, said Trooper Jack L. Keller.
Piontkowski was charged with first-degree burglary, a felony; second-degree menacing, a misdemeanor; and fifth-degree criminal possession of stolen property, a misdemeanor, Keller said.
Piontkowski was arraigned in Onondaga Town Court and sent to the Justice Center in lieu of $20,000 cash/bond. He remains in custody.
McBennett, a network engineer for AT&T, said he has no idea why anyone would try to burglarize his house in his suburban neighborhood. The McBennetts own two large dogs — friendly mutts, but large enough to make a prospective burglar think twice, he said.
“That’s kind of the million-dollar question,” he said. “I just don’t know. It had to be completely random.”
