A 68-year-old disabled man cannot see out of one eye after taking matters into his own hands with a burglar, who then attacked him.
“I wasn’t going to let myself be afraid of him,” robbery victim Stan Burge said.
He woke up around 2:15 Thursday morning to find a burglar in his garage.
“Once I saw a person in there, I took him down,” Burge said.
He charged at the burglar, who was using his phone flashlight to search through boxes. The thief got away after beating Burge to a bloody pulp.
Burge set off his car alarm, hoping to alert a neighbor before he was able to get up to call 911. Medics rushed him to the hospital.
A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured the thief coming and going from Burge’s house three or four times Wednesday, wheeling stolen goods down the driveway during each trip.
He came back for more in the middle of the night. That’s when Burge caught him in the act.
Surveillance video showed the same car parked in front of Burge’s house last month as well when the driver was seen stealing items.
“The guy comes in, and it’s always too late to catch him red-handed,” neighbor Carra Ojeda said. “He was acting casual, he waved, he said ‘Hi’ to my husband.”
Burge is remodeling his home and estimates the thief has gotten away with at least $5,000 in tools. One of the men he hired in a home improvement store parking lot warned him to make sure everything was locked up, after claiming to overhear others discussing possibly targeting him.
“I didn’t expect a problem a year later,” Burge said.
He’s now cautious about who he lets in his house to help with renovations while recovering from the wake-up call he never expected.
“I will be more prepared next time to have more than just my body to fight with,” he said.
His family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses.
HPD is investigating the robbery. Anyone with information should contact police.