NEW ORLEANS — A property owner took matters into his own hands after finding a strange man in his apartment building near New Orleans City Park.
Eric Hernandez recently purchased a 4-plex in the 4600 block of Orleans Avenue. Wednesday, he went to the building to check on workers redoing his floors and found a man in one of the units rummaging through his toolbox.
“I walk in, and this gentleman has my toolbox in his hands, and I asked him what’s he doing with my toolbox,” Hernandez said. “He said I’m giving it to you. He was going to steal it.”
Hernandez says the man refused to leave.
“I called 911. He left that unit and went into an occupied unit which happened to be a single lady. I called her. She came. When she came, he swung a radio at her that’s when I had to step in.”
Hernandez says he grabbed the man, took him to the ground and tied him up with an extension cord and half of a ratchet strap.
He posted pictures of the alleged intruder on social media.
“I tried to let him go first and he went around the block and came back again,” Hernandez said. “I felt I needed to tie him up until the police came.”
An NOPD officer arrived to pick up the man about an hour later. The NOPD classified this case as a mental disturbance. The man was taken to a facility for evaluation. So far, no charges have been filed.
“He wasn’t in here trying to break anything,” Hernandez said. “He possibly could have been stealing or he really felt in his mind that he lived there.”
Hernandez isn’t sure how the man was able to get into the building but admits workers may have left a door unlocked.
“At no time did I feel threatened by him. He just was spaced out.”
WWL-TV chose not to show the man’s face or identify him because so far, he hasn’t been charged with any crimes.