PD: Man Broke Into Occupied Home

Jeffrey Rice (Photo / SCPD).

A Huntington Station man broke into an occupied Cold Spring Harbor on Thanksgiving and assaulted a 85-year-old woman, Suffolk police said.

Jeffrey Rice, 45, entered the Fox Hunt Lane home through a side door at around 11 p.m., police said. He then found a kitchen knife in the house and went upstairs into a room occupied by a 7-year-old girl and her 85-year-old aunt, according to police. Rice then assaulted the woman, who was later brought to Huntington Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Rice then exited the room and was confronted by the 35-year-old female homeowner, police said. There was an argument between Rice and the homeowner, police said, and a “brief physical altercation” between Rice and the homeowner’s 37-year-old husband.

Rice was escorted outside the house by the husband and his brother and brother-in-law, according to police. The family held Rice outside, until Second Precinct officers arrived and arrested Rice.

Second Squad detectives charged Rice with first-degree burglary and he was arraigned in First District Court on Friday. Rice was next scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday, according to court records.

-WROBLEWSK