A courageous Chelsea father surprised an intruder in his 5-year-old son’s bedroom and held the thug until help arrived, police said yesterday.
The family was awakened at about 1:50 a.m. Saturday when ex-con Joseph Spanarkel broke into their basement apartment off Eighth Avenue, police said.
The hero dad jumped the former jailbird and wrestled him to the ground, pinning him until police arrived and hauled him away.
The family was still in shock yesterday.
“My children are still very scared,” said the shaken mother in the doorway of the apartment.
“We’ve had a very rough day.”
Spanarkel, 45, was charged with second-degree burglary.
He has already done time for criminal mischief, burglary and attempted burglary, and was being held without bail.