Arrest in sexual assault
Derreck Williams, 17, was arrested on Sun. Aug. 19 and charged with sexual abuse and robbery, police said. Williams is charged with following a woman, 22, from the Fulton St. subway station at 2:30 a.m. to the corner of Spruce and Gold Sts. where he grabbed her breasts, fondled her crotch and kissed her before taking her bag and fleeing, police said. He was arrested later that day and arraigned Wed., Aug. 22.
Right arm slasher
Police are seeking a suspect in three slashing assaults on women, two on the Lower East Side and one in the Flatiron District. On Aug. 17 at 1:24 p.m. the suspect, a tall slim black man between 5’8” and 5’11”, slashed a woman, 35, on the right arm as she was walking south on Chrystie St. south of Delancey St. On July 16 at 12:30 p.m. a man with the same description slashed a woman, 46, on the right arm as she was walking west on Grand St. toward Chrystie St. The same day about an hour later he slashed the right arm of a woman, 32, walking west on W. 32nd St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. The slashings were unprovoked and the suspect fled immediately after each incident, police said.
Mischief
A school security guard was charged with criminal mischief and suspended from duty for deliberately scratching a car parked at the curb at 293 E. Broadway near P.S. 134 at 7:30 p.m. Tues. Aug. 21. The owner of the car said that she saw the suspect, Lemuel Whiteside, 55, scratching the car and that he ran into the school when he noticed she was watching him.
Four muggers charged
Police arrested four men in connection with the Wed. Aug. 22 assault and robbery of a victim, 44, on the grounds of the Alfred E. Smith Houses at Catherine Slip and the FDR Drive at 1:50 p.m. and running off with the victim’s gold chain. Robert Tinsley, 31, Enrique Trinidad, 39, Neftali Trinidad, 40, and Raymond Hecker, 27, were being held this week in lieu of $10,000 bail pending grand jury action. Hecker, a former roommate of the defendant in the Smith Houses, was evicted from the apartment and bore a grudge against the defendant, according to the district attorney’s office.
Building debris
Several pieces of metal fell from the façade of the six-story building at 361 Broadway at the corner of Franklin St. on Saturday morning Aug. 25, and one of them struck a car parked on Franklin St., according to a Fire Department spokesperson. There was no fire and the incident is being investigated. No one was injured.
Fatal jump
A probation officer leaped from his 10th story office in the Criminal Court building at 100 Centre St. and fell to his death onto a second floor construction shed at 7 a.m. Tues., Aug. 21, police said. Robert Tarkaroff, 58, married and father of a stepson, was a probation officer for 20 years whose job involved interviewing convicted defendants and preparing probation reports that judges consider in sentencing. Co-workers reportedly described him as a capable officer and a cheerful co-worker.
Hit by Bobcat
A member of the Hamilton-Madison Senior Center was slightly injured at 9:09 a.m. Tues. Aug. 28 when a Housing Authority Bobcat hit her in front of the Hamilton-Madison center at 50 Madison St., police said. The vehicle was moving garbage dumpsters in the Alfred E. Smith Houses where the settlement house is located. The victim, Chieu King Lai, 73, was treated at Bellevue Hospital and released later that day, according to a Hamilton-Madison House spokesperson.
— Albert Amateau
