Dead Fish Falls Out Of Trousers

Officers John Lalli and Dwight Calderon figured they had tracked down Westville’s frozen-fish thief. Then a dead critter slipped out of some trousers — and they knew they had their man.

The fish tale transpired last Thursday.

Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman:

For the second time in a month, someone had broken a window at Westville Seafood at 1514 Whalley Ave.

The owner had put in a security camera after the first caper. So this time the cops viewed footage of a bearded man with a jacket and a backpack taking a rock, throwing it through the window, then making off with an estimated $1,400 of seafood plus some alcohol, then heading off with a ​“red shopping carriage.”

“Surveillance footage from the Goodwill store next door picked up the poacher as he pushed the cart toward the Three Judges Motel,” Hartman reported.

The officers ​“had a hunch” the thief might be staying at one of the area’s hotels. They ​“cast their net” in the area. A tipster told them they might make a catch at Pond Lily Avenue’s Best Way Inn. Someone then pointed them to Room 133.

Inside they found the red carriage. They found the backpack. They found a 47-year-old man who wore the jacket seen in the video — but not wearing any pants.

The officers asked a woman present to retrieve the man’s pants.

“When she did, a frozen fish dropped to the floor. Further searching turned up another frozen fish and two cases of Calamari.”

Hartman added that the man, ​“caught hook, line and sinker, was charged with second-degree burglary, fourth degree larceny and criminal mischief in the second degree.”