2 Men Break Windows of LI Home, Children Inside: PD

AMITYVILLE, NY — An Amityville woman says someone tried to break into her home Monday night and the incident was captured on video.

Debra Stuart, a registered nurse, was finishing the end of her shift, she said, when she received a call from her 14-year-old daughter.

"There was a loud noise in front (of the house)," said Stuart, recalling her daughter's message. "Somebody broke the front window."

Stuart then instructed her daughter to call the police and contacted her 21-year-old son, who was not at home at the time.

She then left work early. In addition to her daughter, her two grandchildren, ages 4 and 8, and her aunt, 67, she said, were also at home at the time.

"There's glass everywhere," she said.

According to Stuart's home surveillance camera, a white pick-up truck — the make and model are unknown — pulled up to her house on Locust Drive at about 11:28 p.m. Two men exited the truck, walked up to Stuart's driveway, and rang the doorbell of the locked side-entrance door.

After receiving no answer, the men banged on the door, police confirmed. One man then kicked and broke the side window; the other man then walked to the front entrance and banged on the door, police said. He then took a pedestal from the front porch and threw it at the front window, breaking the glass, police said.

The men then returned to the truck and drove away, police said.

By the time Stuart arrived and police responded, the men had already left. Glass lay all over the floor. A vase had fallen from a shelf. Family picture frames were now broken.

"When I walked through the door, I said: 'Oh my God, I cannot believe this is my living room,’" Stuart said.

Her daughter, she said, was also anxious after the incident. The 14-year-old's morning bus for school leaves before the sun rises. Stuart, who works night shifts, took off a few days from work to safely walk her to the bus stop.

"People know me as a nice, kind person," she said. "Why would somebody want to do something like this? To me and my family?"

Stuart also told Patch she's trying to have her windows replaced but was told one order may take up to six weeks to arrive. The front window, she said, is currently boarded up with cardboard.

But Stuart said she is still coming to grips with the incident.

"I still haven't even cleaned my living room yet," she said, adding that glass is still on the floor.
"There's glass everywhere. Pictures are broken. The frames are broken. It's just a mess,” she said. ”I'm angry."