BROOKLYN RESIDENT CONVICTED OF BURGLARIZING ROSEDALE HOME. LOCAL LIVERY DRIVERS HELP IN CAPTURE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Brooklyn man, who had been captured by a group of livery van drivers after burglarizing a fellow livery driver's home has been convicted after a one week jury trial in Supreme Court.

District. Attorney Brown identified the defendant as Elijah Barrow, 44, of 234 Newport Street, Brooklyn. The defendant will be declared a persistent felony offender at sentencing and faces a minimum sentence of 16 years to life in prison when he is sentenced on August 27.

District Attorney Brown said, "This is the classic example of neighbors and co-workers watching out for one another. The neighbor in this case is also the victim's brother-in-law who saw the defendant leave his brother-in-law's home with a pillow case full of goods. Thanks to his quick thinking and to that of the victim's co-workers justice has been done."

According to trial testimony, on August 5,1996, in Rosedale, the defendant was observed by the victim's brother-in-law who lives next door, coming out of the window of the victim's house with two other men. The defendant was carrying a pillow case containing property belonging to the victim. The three hailed a livery van and the brother-in-law jumped into a second van and gave chase. The second livery van driver alerted the first driver through a radio transmission that he was carrying thieves who had burglarized a fellow livery driver's house. When the three heard the alert they fled from the van, running toward the railroad tracks on the North Conduit. The three took off in different directions with the first van driver following the defendant through a tree-lined area, eventually reaching Sunrise Highway. During the chase, the van driver alerted two police officers on scooters who called for back-up. Van drivers from all over the neighborhood chased the defendant to 241st Street and the South Conduit where the first van driver held the defendant on the ground until the police arrived.

Assistant District Attorney David L. Bendik of the Queens District Attorney's Kew Gardens II Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Chief Daniel M.. Sullivan and Deputy Bureau Chief Francesco Catarisano prosecuted the case.