SAVANNAH, GA. (November 22, 2013): Determination may have led a Savannah man Friday afternoon to reattempt a burglary where he had failed the day before but teamwork between a neighbor and police foiled his efforts.
Justin Edward Boykin, 27, was arrested by Islands Precinct Crime Suppression Unit officers after a neighbor talking to Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police via cell phone tracked him from a residence. He has been charged with five counts of burglary in the first degree and two counts of criminal attempt at burglary.
Metro police, including Patrol South Major Richard Zapal and Islands Precinct Capt. John Best, had saturated the area near Sea Island Road and Nassau Drive where five burglaries or attempted burglaries had been reported Thursday afternoon. Prescription drugs and cash had been taken in the burglaries.
A victim whose residence had been involved Thursday reported seeing a man behind a neighboring house where a burglary had been attempted the previous day. He followed the suspect who was bleeding from his hand and advised police of his location.
Zapal and Best arrived quickly on the scene followed immediately by CSU and patrol units who had locked down nearby May Howard Elementary School as a precaution. They learned Boykin had cut his hand breaking into a house on Nassau Drive.
Zapal praised the cooperation between residents and police:
“This is a prime example of the police-citizen cooperation that we strive so hard to achieve,” he said. “It is a textbook display of the proper tactical deployment of resources and the hard work and dedication of SCMPD officers. Within 90 seconds of the first officer arriving on scene, the first house had been cleared, the school was locked down and the suspect was taken into custody.”
Islands Precinct detectives recovered prescription drugs taken in Thursday’s burglaries from Boykin’s residence along with cash that he didn’t seem to know he had.
Precinct detectives continue to investigate the burglaries.
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