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Brick Thief Hospitalized After Run-in With Cops in Canarsie

By DNAinfo Staff on April 12, 2012 1:10pm

By Trevor Kapp and Wil Cruz

DNAinfo Staff

BROOKLYN — A man who allegedly stole bricks from a Canarsie housing complex was hospitalized with a mysterious head injury after a run-in with cops early Thursday, authorities and witnesses said.

The suspect was swiping the bricks from 1550 E. 102nd St. in the Bayview Houses when cops arrived at the scene about 4:45 a.m., police said.

One witness said that he heard a police cruiser "slam into the gate" of the building. "[The officers] were screaming, 'Wake up! Wake up!" he said.

"They were yelling at him like he was a dog," the tenant added. "He was pinned under that car."

Zion, 30, another witness who lives on the sixth floor of the building, said cops dragged and slapped the suspect.

"They dragged him from under the car with their hands," he said. "They were smacking him with their hands, screaming, 'Wake up! Wake up!'

"They threw him on the car with his hands behind his back," Zion added. "He was leaning facedown on the car. They were hitting him, trying to get him up."

The man was taken into custody and rushed to Brookdale Hospital with a head injury that police and fire officials described as non-life-threatening.

Hours after the incident, investigators were examining the police cruiser, which was oddly positioned in a walkway at the East 102nd Street building and had a dent in the front driver's side fender.

The NYPD refused to say how the suspect suffered the injury and the whether the police car struck him.

The suspect has not been charged, police said.