Bailiffs break down door to deliver victim to court

Bailiffs have broken down the door of respectable St Petersburg resident, only to convoy him to court as a victim.

This is the way the judicial system thanked the man for his heroism, as city Metro repair worker Aleksandr Sharov helped capture an armed robber.

The incident took place in the subway on June 27, 2009. On that day, Sharov was meeting with his colleague ahead of the night shift when he saw a man criminal robbing a sleeping drunk at the other end of the platform.

”He already opened his bag, took out the flash player and the money. So we approached him saying: ‘Put everything back and get lost’. But he grabbed the stuff and rushed to the escalators. I managed to stop him and block the way… And that’s when the thief took out the gun. He thought I’d be afraid, but I slowly started to approach him. Then he jumped into the train that had just arrived. I followed him and there was a police officer waiting for us at the next station,” Aleksandr Sharov remembered in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

That is why Sharov was really surprised when officers of the court paid a visit to his home. At 6:45 on March 15, Sharov’s mother, wife and daughter were woken up by the insistent ringing of their doorbell. The head of the family was at another nightshift.

”These are the bailiffs. We’re looking for Aleksandr Sharov to convoy him to court,” the voice from behind the door said.

The officers did not explain what crime Sharov had committed, but threatened to break the door down if they were not let in.

”We called the police in an instant. While we were talking, the bailiffs broke down the door to the lobby and tried to penetrate the flat,” Sharov’s wife, Elena, remembered.

The family held siege for two hours before the police arrived. When Aleksandr Sharov returned home from work, he witnessed a very curious picture.

"In one corner of the apartment, two bailiffs were writing a ticket for my mother and wife who had refused to open the lock, and in another corner, policemen were working on the ticket for bailiffs who broke down the door," Aleksandr Sharov said.

After a conversation with the bailiffs, Sharov found out that the court was unable to solve the case of a robber he caught without his help, and had therefore issued an order to “deliver him to court by noon on March 15.”

"First, I have not received a writ from the court. Second, why wake my family up at 6:45, threaten to break down the door and bring poor women to hysterics? Finally, why bother breaking the door when I was a victim?" Sharov wondered.

The only positive spot in the story is that the criminal Sharov helped capture was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.