Shooting death
An off-duty Emergency Medical Team member was shot to death after an argument on Sun., July 18 shortly after 5 a.m. near Hudson and Vandam Sts.
The victim, Jason Green, 32, and his girlfriend, Melisa Jackson, also an E.M.T. member, had been suspended for a month last year and were still under investigation for ignoring a dying pregnant woman in Brooklyn while they were off duty. But the shooting on Sunday was unrelated to that incident, police said.
Green and a friend had tried to get into Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St., shortly before the shooting but bouncers refused to let them in because the friend was wearing shorts. Two women friends who had been in the club joined them just before a man came up and began arguing with Green. The argument carried on across the street and turned into a fight with three men attacking Green. The three were getting the worst of it when a fourth man joined them and shot Green in the face, police said. Green, a Queens resident, was taken to New York Downtown Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
Crutch as weapon
A man who has been living on the streets of the Lower East Side severely beat a man with the victim’s crutch in Sara D. Roosevelt Park opposite 110 Forsyth St. around 8:30 p.m. Sat., July 17, police said.
Police arrested David Larose, 39, and charged him with first and second degree assault. The victim, Frank Pischettola, 30, was taken unconscious to Bellevue Hospital in critical but stable condition with a broken eye socket and brain injury.
The incident began when the victim told Larose not to bother a woman who was hanging out with a group in the park, according to reports. The suspect flew into a rage, grabbed the victim’s crutch, bashed him in the head with it and climbed on top of the fallen victim and continued clubbing him.
The suspect, who had several prior arrests for drugs, assault and loitering, had been beaten previously himself in the park, according to reports. Larose was held without bail pending a July 23 court appearance.
Traffic rage
Police arrested Steven Collado, 19, for hitting a man with a tire iron after chasing him through traffic at 12:25 a.m. Mon., July 12. The victim, visiting from Arlington, Va., was not seriously hurt. Collado was charged with first and second degree assault.
Soho shoplift
Two men made off with eight wallets with a total value of $2,000 from the Valeria Smith Boutique at 85 Mercer St. between Spring and Broome Sts. at 4 p.m. Sat., July 10. A sales attendant told police one of them distracted her with a question to allow the other to grab the items. The two suspects were the only customers in the shop at the time, police said.
Wallet gone
A woman, 24, who was about to pay for purchases at the Duane Reade at 459 Broadway at Grand St. around 4 p.m. Mon., July 12 discovered that her wallet was missing from her bag. The last time she used it was when she paid for a Metrocard with her debit card at Park Ave. S. for a subway ride Downtown. She lost $20 cash and credit cards and her debit card, which had several unauthorized charges, police said.
Shoplifting trio
Three men entered the Lucky Brand Jeans shop at 38 Greene St. at Grand St. around 6:40 p.m. Sun., July 11 and ran out with six pairs of jeans, 12 button-up shirts and 30 T shirts, with a total value of $2,322, police said.
Car break-in
A Brooklyn woman, 29, who parked her car at the northeast corner of Laight and Varick St. around 2 p.m. Thurs., July 8, returned two hours later to find a side window smashed and her bag gone. A surveillance tape from a camera in front of 28 Laight St., showed two men breaking the window with a rock and stealing the bag, police said.
Backpack picked
A visitor from Canada got on a bus on Broadway between Grand and Broome Sts. around 4 p.m. Fri., July 9 where a passenger told her that the zipper on her backpack was open. She checked and found her wallet gone with her passport, credit card, social insurance card and $25 in cash, police said.
Ghost crutches
A memorial to Harry Wieder, the Community Board 3 member killed when struck by a cab on April 27 as he was crossing Essex St. between E. Houston and Stanton St. has appeared this week at the site of the accident. A pair of painted white crutches similar to the one Wieder used was attached to a pole and was decorated with flowers and a photo of the victim. The memorial imitates the “ghost bikes” that commemorate bicycle riders killed in traffic. Wieder, a dwarf who walked with crutches, was an outspoken advocate on transportation issues for people with disabilities.
— Albert Amateau
