By Laurel J. Sweet
The Boston Herald
BOSTON — You don’t mess with America’s heroes.
A 40-year-old Roxbury man was caught red-handed, prosecutors say, burglarizing the Boston Fire Department’s Engine 42/Rescue 2 firehouse on Columbus Avenue Monday night while the jakes were out fighting a three-alarm blaze on Harrishof Street and saving 10 lives.
“This is a new low,” Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said. “We like to think that a person’s conscience would prevent him from robbing the very people who risk their lives to keep him safe, but sadly that doesn’t appear to have been a factor here.”
Roxbury District Court Judge Michael Coyne ordered suspect Desi Halsell held on $2,000 cash bail yesterday after his arraignment on breaking-and-entering charges.
Halsell was discovered in the station at 10 p.m. with a black hockey bag over his shoulder and a laptop computer in his hands by firefighters returning after taking a beating for 2 1/2 hours, prosecutors said.
A pat frisk by cops yielded a hammer, they said.
Boston is home to 34 firehouses, but department spokesman Steve MacDonald called break-ins “rare.”
“It’s disheartening, but it’s not reflective of the people in the city,” MacDonald said. “For the most part, our neighbors are great neighbors that appreciate the firefighters and the sense of security they bring to a neighborhood.”
Copyright 2010 Boston Herald Inc.