Suspect bitten by K-9 on night of home burglaries
One Delray Beach resident held a machete to confront the intruder in his backyard, police say. When the intruder ran and tried to barge into another residence, he had the front door shut on him.
It wasn’t until a police dog pounced and bit the suspect’s neck that he was subdued, enabling police to detain him, a Delray Beach police arrest report says.
After Derek Fischer’s arrest last week on multiple counts of burglary of an occupied dwelling, he remained jailed Sunday, records show.
Fischer, 28, of Delray Beach, told an officer that before things went wrong early Tuesday, he was drinking whiskey and met two women who wanted to take him to a social gathering, police said.
According to the arrest re- port, police received a 911call after midnight Tuesday in the 300 block of Southeast Fourth Avenue.
A resident, who was home with his girlfriend, realized a stranger, later identified as Fischer, was atop an air-conditioning unit outside, banging on it and trying to open it.
The resident and his girlfriend also heard another person trying to open the back door of the home. The resident grabbed a machete for protection and started screaming at the strangers to go away.
Still, “Fischer remained in the yard initially as two other unknown female suspects apparently fled from the area,” the police report said.
The resident phoned 911, and with police on their way, he stepped outside with the machete to confront the intruder. He told the intruder to get down on the ground. Fischer initially complied with the resident’s commands to surrender, but then Fischer suddenly started running and disappeared.
About the same time, police received a 911 call from a resident who lives in the 200 block of Southeast Fourth Avenue.
In that case, the resident said he had opened the door when a stranger knocked, and the stranger tried to force himself in. But the resident was able to push the man out and shut the door.
By then, an officer had arrived and yelled commands at Fischer, but Fischer instead began to run. The officer deployed his police dog, Ghost, who caught up to Fischer and bit his neck, leaving four puncture wounds, police said.
Delray Beach Fire-Rescue treated Fischer and took him to Delray Medical Center
At one point, Fischer told police that the two women he had met had told him there was a social gathering at the first residence he had been at, police said. He said he ran to the second home because he thought he knew someone there and believed that person would let him inside to hide from police, the report said.
Later, Fischer requested an attorney and declined to further talk with the police.
jcortega@tribpub.com, 561-243-6527 or @JuanSunSentinel