Gun-toting teen
A 15-year-old boy was arraigned on felony gun charges on Fri., Sept. 28, days after he was arrested for firing a revolver in the bathroom of his Financial District high school. Jason Morel brought the gun to the Leadership and Public High School, at 90 Trinity Pl., on the morning of Sept. 19, and apparently thought it was unloaded, police said. He accidentally fired one shot while showing it to friends in the bathroom, destroying a urinal. Morel is charged with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Chinatown bus driver on trial after deadly crash
The criminal trial for the Chinatown bus driver whose March 2011 crash in the Bronx killed 15 passengers and injured seven began on Thurs., Sept. 27, as prosecutors claimed that he failed to get enough sleep before driving on that day. Ophadell Williams, 41, is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the crash of his World Wide Travel bus on a trip back to Chinatown from Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino. Responding to the charges, his lawyer said that there was no criminality involved and that Williams lost control of the bus after being cut off by a tractor-trailer, the New York Times reported. Williams, who has been in prison since September 2011, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted.
Seaport sunglass thief
A shady character lifted six pricey pairs of sunglasses from a store at the South Street Seaport on Fri., Sept. 28 and slipped away before anyone could stop him. The perp strolled into the Seaport’s Sunglass Hut around 2 p.m. that day and concealed the glasses, collectively worth around $1,800, in his pant pockets before fleeing the scene, according to the police report. Cops were able to retroactively catch the thief in action on the store’s video surveillance tapes, and used the footage to describe the suspect as a bald black man who is approximately 35 years old, six feet tall and 240 pounds.
FiDi slasher
Police arrested Adelalim Abdelbaky, 18, early on Wed., Sept. 26 after he sliced a man’s arm open in the Financial District. Abdelbaky had apparently been in an argument with the 25-year-old man on the sidewalk outside 100 Trinity Pl. when, around midnight, he pulled out a knife and cut him, police said. The attack left the victim with several deep lacerations to the arm, but it also caused a commotion, leading two witnesses to report the crime. Cops immediately arrived on the scene and, after spotting Abdelbaky during a canvass, collared him on assault charges.
Subway phone snatch
A New Jersey woman didn’t think twice about pulling out her cell phone on the subway on Wed., Sept. 26, but she got a rude awakening when it was snatched away by a petty thief. The woman, 28, was sitting on a southbound A train as it pulled into the Canal Street station around 2 p.m. that day, according to the police report. Just as she looked down to check the phone, a man, whom she described as black and around 20 years old, jumped onto the train, plucked the device from her hand, jumped back off and fled the scene.
Gym locker theft
First he felt the burn on the treadmill — then he got burned for nearly a grand, when a thief made fraudulent purchases on his stolen credit cards. A New Jersey man, 51, had just finished his afternoon workout at the New York Sports Club at 160 Water St. on Mon., Sept. 24, when he got an unfortunate surprise upon returning to his gym locker. The lock had been broken off by an unknown perp who had stolen his cell phone and wallet, which contained several credit cards, police said. Before he could cancel the cards, the unsuspecting victim found that his antagonist had already made multiple unauthorized purchases throughout the city, totaling over $800.
–By Sam Spokony
