A veteran off-duty correction officer trying to evict a tenant from his Brooklyn home smeared feces on her bedroom door and in her bathroom, police said Friday.
Nigel Escalona, 44, was charged with criminal mischief and illegal eviction.
AdvertisementHe was arrested Thursday after the 52-year-old victim came home from work and found the locks on her Canarsie apartment, inside which she rents a room, had been changed, according to the NYPD.
Neighbors saw the woman arguing with a man they believe to be Escalona outside the E. 83rd St. home before the city correction officer was arrested.
AdvertisementAdvertisement“The screen was up, her head was through the window,” said one man who asked to remain anonymous. “The two guys were standing there and they were asking her if they could get some stuff out.”
[More New York] NYC mother of two found dead with slit throat inside Bronx apartment »Another neighbor, a woman, heard “glass breaking” from inside the apartment. At first, just a few cops showed up, she said.
“Then they came back and there was a lot of them,” she remembered. “I don’t know what it was but it was terrible, it was just so crazy.”
Escalona’s tenant previously reported that she caught the officer running out of her bedroom on March 4. When she looked inside she found poop smeared on the door and door frame, as well as on the bathroom doorknob and faucet, police said.
[More New York] Three city employees busted — two for drunk driving — in 12-hour span: police »“Even if she’s not paying the rent, that’s not the way to go about it,” the neighbor who saw Thursday’s confrontation said. “On both parties it’s tough but you have to go about it the right way. Screaming and smearing stuff in the house isn’t right.”
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WeekdaysCatch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon.You are now following this newsletter. See all newsletters.Another neighbor claimed the woman often acts erratically, resulting in frequent visits from police which send Escalona’s other tenants packing.
“There’s more than ten people who have moved in and moved out,” said the neighbor who asked to remain anonymous. “As soon as these tenants move in they move right back out.”
[More New York] Teen struck by livery cab crossing Bronx street fights for life: NYPD »“She’s up screaming from 7:00 to 7:00,” she said. “My sister lives upstairs with her husband and he works the graveyard shift. And he can’t get to sleep when he comes in.”
“I can honestly say she’s a nuisance,” the neighbor continued. “I’m telling you, this lady, she’s a problem.”
Escalona, who joined the city Department of Correction in 2004, is assigned to the Manhattan Detention Complex. His duty status is dependent on what happens at his arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court, an agency spokeswoman said.
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