The incident occurred on June 21, at around 6:00 p.m., in one of the apartment blocks in Legnica’s Tarninów district. As a young man was leaving his building, he noticed someone trying to break into one of the cellars using a screwdriver. When the would-be offender saw the resident, he ran out of the stairwell and began fleeing. The resident gave chase.
A witness to the incident was Staff Sergeant Piotr Wiśniewski of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Legnica. While at home, he heard someone running and shouting, “stop the thief!”
The off-duty officer reacted immediately: he ran out of his home and pursued the burglary suspect. After several dozen metres, the police officer managed to stop the burglar and called a patrol to the scene.
When the officers arrived and wanted to handcuff the 25-year-old suspect, he fell to the ground and pretended to be unconscious. He did not respond to any of the officers’ signals or commands.
The burglar was taken to the Specialist Hospital, where he underwent a series of examinations. Nothing was wrong with the man; he had been faking it the entire time.
The thief was therefore placed in police custody. It turned out that the man specialised in burglaries of cellars and utility rooms. He now faces up to 10 years in prison.