Hit and run death Florence Cioffi, 59, of Brooklyn was crossing Water St. between Hanover Sq. and Old Slip shortly before 11 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 24 when a northbound black Mercedes Benz struck her and drove away, police said. The victim died a half-hour later at New York Downtown Hospital.
The driver of the car, George W. Anderson, returned a short time later and was charged with vehicular manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident. He was arraigned Fri., Jan. 25 and was released on a 250,000 bond pending a May 20 court appearance. An assistant district attorney said at the arraignment that the defendant was driving 60 miles per hour and that arresting officers said Anderson’s speech was slurred, smelled of alcohol and his eyes were red, according to news reports. Anderson’s lawyer, Jan D. Goldman, said the defendant was not guilty and had the green light when the accident occurred.
Tribeca assault Stanley Walden, 29, of Jersey City, was arrested at 3 a.m. Sat., Jan. 26 at Dakota Road House, 43 Park Pl., for attacking two other patrons in the bar, police said. He is charged with hitting one man over the head with a bar stool and punching another man in the face. He was freed on his own recognizance pending a Feb. 29 court date.
New Year’s shooting Haile Mathew, 29, of Brooklyn was arrested Sat., Jan. 19 and charged with attempted murder and second degree assault in a Lower East Side shooting at the beginning of 2008, according to the office of District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.
Mathew brought a loaded 9 mm pistol to a New Year’s Eve party at 280 Rivington St. in the Baruch Houses and fired into a group of people in front of the place, according to the charges. One bullet hit a woman in the abdomen and another hit a man in the leg. The man was treated in the hospital and released but the woman was still hospitalized last weekend. Mathew is being held pending a Feb. 28 arraignment.
E. Houston D.W.I. Police say they stopped Melvin Clay, 22, in his car on E. Houston at Forsyth St. at 5 a.m. Sun., Jan.27 after noticing his erratic driving. Clay pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Drug sentence Cordell Lochin, a part owner in The Box, 189 Chrystie St., and La Esquina, 106 Kenmare St., was sentenced to three years in prison on Wednesday, Jan. 23 by a federal judge in Maine for his role in a ring that smuggled marijuana to the U.S. from Canada, according to the New York Post. Lochin pleaded guilty to the charges in 2006 in exchange for a two-year reduction in his sentence. He has since disputed his ownership interest in the two clubs, but court papers allege that he earns $177,000.
— Albert Amateau
