87-Year-Old Pasadena Man Pummels Burglary Suspect

PASADENA, CA - A battered and bruised burglary suspect is now regretting the decision to break into the Pasadena home of an octogenarian who used to be a boxer, police said Wednesday.

After a brief detour to the hospital, Gregory Park, 37, of Los Angeles was booked on suspicion of first- degree burglary and attempted murder following a violent struggle with an 87- year-old man and his 63-year-old son in the kitchen of their Pasadena home.

"We beat the crap out of him," Ruben Heredia, 87, told CBS2, which reported that the octogenarian was an amateur boxer while attending Pasadena Junior College in the early 1950s.

According to police, Park entered the home on the 100 block of Arlington Drive at about 9 p.m. Tuesday night.

The residents smelled smoke and confronted Park in the home's kitchen, Pasadena police Lt. John Luna said.
That’s when Park got pummeled.

Park had allegedly struck the older man in the head with an unknown object and threatened to kill him, Luna said.

The older man, identified in news reports as Ruben Heredia, said he whacked the man with a stool and kneed him in the ribs, and his son Dan Heredia said the suspect used a coffee pot to slam his head.

The father and son were able to hold the man until officers arrived, according to the lieutenant. The older man's 83-year-old wife, who was also at the home but was not injured, called 911.

The resident and his son, who sustained a laceration to his forehead as well as facial contusions and abrasions during the struggle, were taken to a hospital for treatment, as was the suspect, whose hand was lacerated, Luna said.

Park was booked after being treated, Luna said. He was being held Wednesday on $1 million bail.

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City News Service contributed to this report. Image: CBS screengrab