Suspect targets young girls A heavy-set man, about 5’9” with a goatee and brown hair worn pulled back, approached two girls in Chinatown in the past three weeks, police said. The suspect driving a green Jeep offered money to a 9-year-old girl walking on Pike St. on Sunday evening Oct. 12. The girl screamed and fled. A man answering the same description stopped a 10-year-old girl in front of her Henry St. building and offered her money. She also screamed and fled, police said.
Groped in B.P.C. Police arrested Ricardo Espinosa, 25, on Sunday morning, Oct. 12 and charged him with sexual abuse for groping a woman on North End Ave. between Murray and Vesey Sts. Espinosa followed the victim, 28, on his bicycle, stopped in front of her shortly before 7 a.m. and groped her breasts, according to police and the district attorney. The woman recognized the suspect, a Brooklyn resident, as an employee at a bagel-shop that she patronized in Battery Park City and called police. The suspect was freed pending a Dec. 18 court appearance.
Delancey bank robbery A tall heavy-set man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked into the Washington Mutual bank branch at 104 Delancey St. near Ludlow St. on Tuesday morning Oct. 7, pulled a gun on a teller and demanded money, police said. The robber fled with an unspecified amount of cash.
South Cove rescue A small boat with four people that appeared to be taking on water near South Cove at 1:41 p.m. Fri., Oct. 3 was rescued by a PEP officer and two fishermen who tossed ropes to the troubled craft and pulled it to the esplanade railing, according to the park security office. Two of people got out of the boat and left. The rescuers passed a bucket to the other two who bailed the boat out. The two who remained then motored north to their marina in Inwood.
Car hits PEP officer A PEP officer was writing a parking ticket for a car parked at Rockefeller Park in Battery Park City on Monday morning, Sept. 22, when the driver jumped in drove off and sideswiped the officer, according to the park security office. The officer was treated at Downtown Hospital and released.
Ninja scare An anxious stroller on the Battery Park City esplanade told a PEP officer that a man dressed in a Ninja suit was wielding a sword at 1:35 p.m. Sat., Sept. 20. The officer advised the Ninja man, who had a wooden sword and was having his picture taken by a friend, that he was scaring passersby and he and his friend left.
— Albert Amateau
