Chinatown fire
Fire raged through four floors of a five-story residential building at 29 E. Broadway between Catherine and Market Sts during the early hours of Tues., Dec. 21, forcing at least 20 residents to flee from their homes and find temporary shelter elsewhere. The fire started a short time before 3 a.m. in an apartment on the second floor and raced up a shaft or stairway to the third, fourth and fifth floors, a fire official said. By 3:30 a.m. a second alarm brought the number of firefighters at the scene to 106. The fire was declared under control at 4:47 a.m. Cause of the blaze was under investigation. Four residents were treated for minor injuries at New York Downtown Hospital, and the Red Cross referred burned-out tenants to temporary shelter. No firefighters were injured.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver issued a statement later saying, “Even as we provide for temporary shelter, our priority is to make sure the residents are able to move back into their homes as quickly as possible and that the businesses that have been impacted are able to reopen. I understand preliminary repair work on the building is already underway and I have offered my assistance in helping residents return as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Hate charge dismissed
A grand jury last week declined to indict Eddie Crespo, 28, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee who was arrested with another defendant and charged in a hate crime for attacking an imam from Woodside, Queens, Rob Peterson, in the subway station at Canal St. on Dec. 8. The grand jury returned a “no true bill” on the Crespo indictment on Dec. 13 and charges against him were dropped, said a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Albert Melendez, 30, is still facing robbery and assault charges as a hate crime and is being held in lieu of bail pending a Jan. 11 court appearance. However, the grand jury that heard the Crespo case called for charges against Melendez to be reduced to misdemeanor assault. Melendez was charged along with Crespo with punching and kicking the victim, 49, making anti-Islamic remarks, mocking the victim’s kufi, (a Moslem head covering) and throwing it onto the subway tracks. Crespo’s lawyer said his client was arrested after he intervened to break up a fight between Melendez and Peterson. Melendez’s lawyer, Angel Soto, said the fight started when Melendez accidentally brushed into Peterson who refused to accept an apology and a handshake.
Robs four Pace students
A man wielding a gun held up four Pace University students outside 33 Gold St. between John and Fulton Sts. during the early hours of Mon. Dec. 13 and took $600 from them and an unspecified amount of marijuana, according to reports. A New York Post item identified one of the victims who had the marijuana as being the person who supplied pot to Max Moreno, the Pace student who was murdered in his apartment at 2 Gold St., three blocks down from where the hold-up took place.
Cleared in teen slay A Manhattan jury on Tues., Dec. 14 cleared Victor Fong, 18, of the November 2009 stabbing death of Nelson Pena, 18, during a melee in front of 100 Hester St. where the Chinatown YMCA shares the building with I.S. 131 and Pace High School. Fong had admitted stabbing someone else, Vincent Rivera, 17, in self-defense, who survived. But Fong insisted he was not near Pena during the melee. A videotape showed Pena was across the street from the school when Pena was stabbed. The videotape also showed Rivera beating Fong with a pole just before the stabbing during the melee.
Fake cops
Two men with fake police shields around their necks burst into a store at 67 Eldridge St., at Hester St. at 3:45 p.m. Mon., Dec. 6, ran behind the counter, grabbed about $1,000 from the cash box and fled, police said. David Oquendo. 30, was arrested a short time later and charged with grand larceny and criminal impersonation of a police officer. His accomplice was not apprehended. Oquendo was being held in lieu of $15,000 bail pending a Jan. 5 court appearance.
She offers bribe
A woman arrested at 11:30 a.m. Tues., Dec. 7 for stealing a wallet from a victim at the corner of Grand St. and Bowery and for picking the pocket of another victim a few minutes later at Hester and Elizabeth Sts., was also charged with offering a $1,000 bribe to the officer who arrested her, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. The suspect, Ha Vasko, 67, told the cop she would give him all the money in her wallet, about $1,000, “or I could write you a check if you let me go.” Vasko was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail pending a March 9 court appearance.
Greenhouse weeds
A woman patron of Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St., put her bag next to her at her table by the dance floor around 3 a.m. Mon., Dec. 20, turned to talk to a friend and discovered a minute or two later that the bag had been stolen, along with $300 in cash, her iPhone, credit cards and her Florida driver’s license.
A New Jersey woman told police she put her bag on top of the bar at Greenhouse around 1 a.m. Sat., Dec. 18 and discovered a short time later it had been stolen along with $150 in cash, a Louis Vuitton key chain valued at $400 and credit cards. She learned later that an unauthorized charge of $51 had been made on one of the cards at a White Castle.
