A Bronx homeowner chased down a man he claimed was trying to break into his house – and bashed him to death with a metal pipe in the street, police said Friday.

Troy George, 54, was hit with murder, manslaughter and weapons possession charges for the Thursday night bloody attack on the alleged would-be thief, identified as 29-year-old Harold Bates, cops said.

Cops said George’s wife called 911 just before midnight, saying she heard or saw someone prowling in the couple’s backyard on East 223rd Street near Bronxwood Avenue in Wakefield.

George, a lifelong postal worker, confronted the man, who fled, according to police.

Then a pipe-wielding George pursued the man, chasing Bates up the block past several houses before he struck Bates in the head, knocking him out.

Bates, a Mount Vernon resident, was rushed to Montefiore Medical Center, but he could not be saved.

Neighbor Priscilla Ford, 53, who lives next-door to George said she was in the bathroom when she heard George’s wife shout: “Oh no, motherf—ker.”

“I came to the window right here and I seen her come out. She was on the phone saying to ‘call the police. There’s a robbery in progress.’”

Ford said George then came “and he ran this way.”

“He had a pipe in his hand. It was a long pipe,” Ford said, adding that she heard George’s wife say: “Oh my husband. He’s getting ready to kill him. He’s getting ready to kill him.”

Ford’s son, Ethan Ford, said he saw the confrontation play out from his window, which faces an alleyway between his home and George’s home where Bates had allegedly been poking around.

“There was a lot of yelling between a women and a man,” Ethan said. “All I heard was rustling and something got dropped down — something like a plant — so I guess the man went on the property.”

When Ethan looked out his window there “was a man chasing down somebody with a pipe. It was like a vacuum pipe of some sort like a metal vacuum pipe.”

One resident who lives directly in front of where Bates was fatally struck said: “I heard a loud ‘pow’ sound, then when I stepped out I saw the man lying on the street curled up. From what I saw he wasn’t moving or breathing.”

Another neighbor said the victim “was bleeding from his mouth, from his head and his jeans were all ripped.”

George was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail, or $150,000 bond, at his arraignment in Bronx Criminal Court late Friday.

Neighbors said they were stunned by the fatal bashing that left a trail of blood in the street.

“It’s crazy. I lived here for like five years. We came here for a peaceful neighborhood and now all this is happening,” said Ethan.

Priscilla added that she didn’t think George “was justified” in going after Bates, saying, “he’s not on your property no more…the man actually came out so I figured…he’s not on your property no more, you’re no longer in danger.”

She described George as “a nice neighbor” who was “quiet.”

“They didn’t mess with anybody,” Priscilla said. “I never seen him do anything bad or curse at anybody.”

Additional reporting by Gabrielle Fonrouge