KEW GARDENS — A career burglar, who was shot in the groin by police, said he tried to hide in the shower and then tried to muscle his way past police during a break-in, according to Queens prosecutors.
Felix Perez, 37, who has four felony burglary convictions, got into a scrap with officer after they were called to the home he was burglarizing, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Perez told investigators that “he tried to go around [the officers], but they were blocking me,” according to prosecutors.
Despite the wound, Perez briefly managed to escape the home, dropping a pair of construction gloves and a piece of jewelry with his name on it in a nearby yard while trying to run away, prosecutors added.
He was apprehend about a block from the home on Hull Avenue.
His lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, said there were “two sides to every story” and that the shooting was unjustified.
“I don’t think someone who is unarmed should be shot in the groin for no reason,” Lazzaro said at the arraignment in Queens Criminal Court Wednesday, as Perez’s wife started to shake and cry in the audience.
The two have a young son together, Lazzaro said, adding that Perez’s father died from HIV.
Perez was arraigned on charges of burglary, assault, possession of burglar’s tools, petit larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and resisting arrest.
He was ordered held without bail by Judge Karen Copee and faces up to 25 years to life if convicted, according to the DA.
He is due back in court on Sept. 6.
