Two Arrested After 63-Year-Old Woman Pushed to Ground During Irving Apartment Break-In
IRVING, Texas - Two people face felony charges after Irving police said they forced their way into a 63-year-old woman's apartment and warned her not to call police again, less than 30 minutes after she had reported one of them for smoking marijuana.
Officers responded around 1:13 p.m. Sept. 12 to the Nuevo Rayo Apartments in the 2300 block of W. Rochelle Road, near the N. Story Rd intersection, after receiving a report of an assault.
Police found the victim at her first-floor apartment. She told officers that a man and woman had knocked on her door and that when she opened it, the woman pushed her to the ground. Both then entered the apartment without permission, according to police.
The woman told officers she injured her knee, back and head in the fall. She was later taken to a hospital for treatment.
While inside the apartment, the two repeatedly told the woman not to call police on them again, according to the police report.
An officer recognized the reference because police had been called to the same location approximately 23 minutes earlier, at 12:49 p.m. The woman had reported 19-year-old Daqulyn Demjay Sheffield for smoking marijuana on the property.
During the later encounter, police said the man took two cans of Pepsi from a nearby table before he and the woman left the apartment.
Based on descriptions provided by the victim, officers located two people near the scene and identified them as Sheffield and 34-year-old Ndeye Fatom Diop.
After being advised of his rights, Sheffield told investigators that he and Diop knocked on the victim's door and pushed it open as she attempted to close it, according to police. Diop denied being involved.
Both were arrested and booked into the Irving Jail on charges of burglary of a habitation, a second-degree felony, and obstruction or retaliation, a third-degree felony.
Sheffield's bond was set at $40,000. He remained in custody at the Dallas County Jail.
Diop's bond was set at $35,000, and she has since been released on bond.
