CAMDEN COUNTY, NJ (WTXF) Police say a local teen hid in the basement after someone broke into his home. A 911 call proves the teen maintained an amazing amount of courage and quick-thinking.
It happened last Friday around 1:30 p.m. at a home in the Berlin Woods neighborhood of Berlin Borough.
According to police, a 15-year-old boy was home sick from school when he heard someone break in. The boy hid in the basement closet and led police to the scene.
The following is the transcript from 911 call:
TEEN: Someone just broke into my house.
TEEN: Berlin, Borough. Please hurry up.
OPERATOR: Okay.
TEEN: I don't know where he is.
OPERATOR: Did you see them come in?
TEEN: No, I heard them break the window.
OPERATOR: Okay. Stay on the line with me.
OPERATOR: You don't hear anything moving around in the basement with you, right?
TEEN: No.
OPERATOR: Okay. I want you to step out of the closet just in the basement and just look around, okay?
TEEN: Okay.
OPERATOR: Because the officer is outside your door.
OPERATOR: I don't want you to go upstairs or anything until I tell you to, okay?
TEEN: Okay, I am not going anywhere.
OPERATOR: I have officers outside, okay? They are going to look around your house.
TEEN: Okay.
OPERATOR: Okay, I just want you to stay where you are. Just make sure- just make sure nobody opens up the basement door, okay?
OPERATOR: I want you to stay where you are. If you see that door open, I want you to scream.
TEEN: Hello?
OPERATOR: Okay. You okay?
TEEN: Yeah.
OPERATOR: Okay, did you open the door?
TEEN: Yeah.
OPERATOR: Okay, do you have the officer there?
TEEN: Okay. Yeah.
OPERATOR: All right I'm going to hang up.
The 911 operator and police operator kept the teen calm and act as liaison between teen and cops arriving on scene.
Police say Alexis Diamond was arrested sitting in passenger seat of car out front, and James Clerkin, Jr. was arrested after being found hiding in upstairs closet.
According to police, stolen goods were found in a book bag in the house. The teen is OK.