Soho rape A rapist followed a Soho woman, 19, from the Spring St. subway station at about 4 a.m. Wed., May 28, asked her for a cigarette, then pulled a box cutter when she got to her Prince St. building, pushed her through the lobby into a courtyard and raped her, police said.
The attack occurred a block away from an April 13 incident when a man pushed his way into the Spring St. apartment of a woman but fled when a neighbor responded to her screams.
The woman who was attacked May 28 had recently moved into the neighborhood and shares an apartment with two other women, according to reports. She was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated and released.
Police described the attacker as a short, stocky black man with a pockmarked face and wearing a blue baseball cap and a black shirt. The suspect might have a speech impediment or a heavy accent, according to police. The two incidents are not connected, police said.
Anyone with information about the case should phone the Special Victims Unit, 212-860-1546 or 800-577-TIPS (8477).
Murder-suicide A man who slashed his girlfriend to death in their Chelsea apartment on either Fri., May 30, or Sat., May 31, jumped to his death from a Financial District building on Saturday evening, police said.
The murder victim, Margaux Powers, 26, was discovered when her sister, Dana Powers, worried because she had not heard from the victim, went to the apartment at 235 W. 22nd St. about 6 p.m. Sat., May 31, with friends and the building’s doorman. They found the mutilated body under a blanket in the bathtub. Dana Powers had been to the apartment the evening before but did not look in the bathroom, according to reports. Police found an unsigned note apologizing for the murder, according to reports.
A few hours later, Jonathan Smith, 34, who had been living with the victim on W. 22nd St., for the past two months, jumped from 15 Broad St., a 24-story building, to his death on Exchange Place.
The couple was known to have screaming arguments, according to neighbors in the Chelsea building.
Survives under subway Abdul Haque, of 60 Pitt St., escaped death around 1:40 p.m. Tues., May 27, when he fell from the platform of the Delancey St. station into the path of an oncoming F train, police said. Haque, 55, managed to hunker down in the trough between the rails just before the first two-and-a-half cars passed over him, according to Allen Stern, writer of the blog InsideTransit.com, who was a passenger on the train. Haque crawled out from under the train and was taken to Bellevue, where he remained overnight. The train proceeded after 35 minutes, Stern said.
Shoots slashers An off-duty police detective who came to the rescue of a woman friend working as a concierge at 123 Baxter St. on Wednesday night May 28, shot two men who were slashing the woman, killing one of them.
The woman, Artende Gjeli, 26, had called the detective, Martin Carrano, earlier that night to say that her ex-boyfriend had phoned her at work and threatened to kill her. Gjeli had met Carrano a month ago when she made a complaint at the 114th Precinct in Queens that the ex-boyfriend, Aleksander Vacaj, had slapped her around at a Queens nightclub.
Carrano had already arrived at the Baxter St. condo when the two men entered. They asked the concierge if they could rent a room and, after she told them it was not a hotel, one of them slashed Carrano on the back of the neck with a razor and then both began slashing Gjeli.
The detective pulled his service revolver and shot them both, police said. Eugene Morales, 22, of the Bronx, was dead at the scene. Andres Martinez, 22, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in critical condition and was in a medically induced coma on Wed., June 4. Martinez and Morales both had felony convictions. The shooting was classified as justified, police said.
Gjeli, who required 14 stitches to close the slash wounds in her face, told police she believed Vacaj had hired Morales and Martinez because Vacaj had threatened to ruin her face. A police spokesperson would only acknowledge the investigation of the harassment complaint against Vacaj.
Arrest in robberies Police arrested Keith Barner, 17, of Manhattan on Fri., May 23, and charged him with robbing a deliveryman of $200 at knifepoint on Wed., May 21, at 306 Delancey St. in the Baruch Houses. The victim spotted Barner in the neighborhood two days after he was robbed and alerted police.
Barner was also charged with attempting to rob another deliveryman in the elevator of 80 Columbia St. in the Baruch Houses on Thurs., May 15, with two accomplices. They fled when they found no money on that victim, police said.
Re-arrest suspect Police re-arrested Gary Brown, 27, of Brooklyn on Fri., May 30, after the death of a woman, 85, who suffered a fractured skull five days earlier when she was thrown to the pavement in the P.S. 134 schoolyard on Pitt St. at E. Broadway.
Brown was indicted for first-degree manslaughter and was being held pending a June 18 arraignment, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney.
Acting Supreme Court Justice Kibbie F. Payne had released Brown on his own recognizance on May 25 pending a June 5 court date after he was charged with second-degree assault for throwing Liu Mei-Liang violently to the pavement earlier that day. The victim was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where she died May 30.
Bad News bust Tatum O’Neal, 44, the actress who won an Oscar when she was 10, was arrested at 7:30 p.m. Sun., June 1, on Clinton St. near E. Broadway and charged with possession of a crack pipe. Allen Garcia, arrested at the same time, was charged with third-degree sale of crack, and was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail, according to the office of the city Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
O’Neal at first told police she was researching an acting role as a junkie and asked the arresting officers to forget about the arrest. She was charged and released on her on recognizance pending a court appearance later in the week, according to the office of the Manhattan district attorney.
Harbor ‘floater’ A body described as being that of a black man in his 30s was pulled from the harbor near Governors Island at 8:20 a.m. Mon., June 2, police said. The Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the cause of death.
Albert Amateau
