NYC Man Fled Cops After Trying To Break In To Nassau Home: Police

A Manhattan man was arrested on Monday after police say he tried to break into a home in Searingtown over the weekend.

According to police, the owner of a home on Birch Drive received an alert on his phone at 9:50 p.m. Saturday for movement in his backyard. He pulled up a live video feed and saw a man trying to cover the camera with an inflatable toy. The homeowner called police, but when they arrived, there was no one in the yard.

Additional officers responded to the scene and began to canvas the area. Police say they saw a suspicious vehicle and tried to pull it over. The driver — Peter Lee, 62, of Jane Street, Manhattan — refused to stop, police said, and eventually evaded the officers. While fleeing, police say that Lee threw a backpack out of his car which contained a crowbar, various tools, binoculars, gloves and a hat.

Officers were able to get the license plate of the car during the chase, police said. An investigation led officers to Lee's identity, and he was arrested on Monday near his home in Manhattan.

Lee is charged with second-degree attempted burglary, third-degree unlawful fleeing of a police officer in a motor vehicle, possession of burglar tools, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He is scheduled to be arraigned on June 25 in First District Court in Hempstead.

Lee was previously arrested last April after police say he jumped off the roof of a home in Woodmere he was trying to burglarize. He was charged with second-degree burglary for that case, and pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court documents. That case is still pending.