Suicidal Pace student
Transit workers found Aaron Fetto, 20, a Pace University student, wandering in the 4/5 train tunnel under the East River around 5:30 a.m. Fri. April 30, dressed like a track worker and carrying a bottle of sodium cyanide tablets in his backpack. Taken aboard a work train, Fetto was brought to the Bowling Green station where he told police he had planned to commit suicide by dissolving the tablets in water, heating the solution with road flares that he was carrying and breathing the cyanide fumes. He said he gave up that plan for fear the fumes would only paralyze but not kill him. He said he decided to swallow the tablets with water and was looking for a place in the tunnel to do it. Police, however, said the road flares would not have heated the water enough to dissolve the tablets, which are available commercially and are used for cleaning jewelry. Fetto, a sophomore from New Hampshire majoring in political science, was taken to Bellevue Hospital for psychiatric observation and the case is pending.
Arrest building guard
Police arrested Ian Wallen, 42, guard at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St. near E. Houston St., on Mon., April 26 and charged him with burglary and larceny in connection with the theft of two laptop computers from offices on the eighth floor of the building around 12:30 a.m. Sat., April 24.
Wallen, a Queens resident, was recorded on a surveillance tape stuffing the laptops in his trousers, police said. He pleaded not guilty to third degree burglary and fourth degree larceny charges and is to appear in court June 2, said a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Teen rumble
An 18-year-old student at the high school on Sixth Ave, between Dominick and Broome Sts. was stabbed in the lower back when he went to Soho Sq. Park near the school around noon Tues., April 20 with some friends, police said. The victim told police that another group of teens attacked him and his friends suddenly and without provocation. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in stable condition.
Gone from court
A man who went to play basketball with friends in the court in front of 20 River Terrace in the north end of Battery Park City on Thursday evening April 29, put his bag on a bench as did his friends. When they finished the game around 7 p.m., the victim, 25, discovered that his bag, with his wallet, iPhone and personal ID was missing.
Drop-in center break-in
The manager of the Coalition for the Homeless drop-in center at 40 Ann St. told police that burglars broke into the center around 2:24 a.m. Fri. April 30 and apparently didn’t take anything but a white jacket that had been donated to the center, police said.
Downtown assault
Police arrested John Ivarone, 43, of Basking Ridge, N.J. on Wed., April 28 and charged his with assaulting a woman acquaintance in her apartment at 71 Broadway at Rector St. around 4:15 a.m. the day before. The victim, 21, told police that Ivarone had tried to take a laptop computer and her wallet before grabbing her by the arms and slapping her face.
Subway punches
Jerry Rose, 48, a resident of 725 FDR Dr. in the Lillian Wald Houses at E. Sixth St., was arrested on a Q train at Canal St. around 6 p.m. Sat., May 1 and charged with assault for punching two victims, a 45-year-old man and a 32-year-old man who both sustained facial cuts and bruises. Rose was carrying a debit card and a welfare card, both stolen, and was also charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
Stolen checks
A man who stole checks totaling more than $3,000 from a mailbox at Broadway and Thomas St. and cashed them last December, was arrested Mon., May 3 and charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Andre Walton, 56, with no fixed address, was charged with stealing the checks after hearing people remark that the mailbox was overflowing. He cashed the checks on Dec. 11 and Dec. 14 at a nearby bank, according to the criminal complaint filed by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Shoplifters
A group of boys between the ages of 16 and 18 walked into True Religion, the clothing boutique at 132 Prince St. near Wooster St. around 4 p.m. Tues., April 20, grabbed a jacket and two pairs of jeans valued at a total of $1,353, and fled without paying for them, police said.
Moving-day theft
A woman who was moving from her sixth floor apartment at 34 Watts St., at Sixth Ave. around 6 p.m. Fri., April 30 carried her bag brief case and clothes to the lobby preparing to load them into her car parked outside. When she returned from bringing more clothes to the lobby, she discovered that her laptop computer, shoes, and eight watches had been stolen.
Car stolen
A Queens man, 52, left his car in front of 241 Water St. near Peck Slip around 5 p.m. Fri., April 30 while visiting the South St. Seaport and returned at 10 a.m. the following day to discover it had been stolen, police said.
— Albert Amateau
