Downtown fire victim
Fire in a 10th floor apartment at 77 Columbia St. in the Masaryk Towers on Wednesday morning Feb. 2 critically injured a 97-year-old woman who was pulled from the blaze by a neighbor.
The neighbor, Wanda Camacho, 53, opened her door around 5:30 a.m. to find smoke pouring into the hall from the apartment of her neighbor, Wei Chee Hu, who was sitting immobile at a coffee table. Camacho dragged Hu out of the fire and into her own apartment where they remained until firefighters arrived.
Hu was taken to the burn center of New York Presbyterian Hospital in critical condition. Camacho was treated for smoke inhalation at Beth Israel Hospital and 11 other residents of the floor were treated for minor injuries.
Subway attack
An off-duty woman transit worker was attacked in the East Broadway F train station at Essex St. at 6:15 p.m. Fri. Feb. 4. and knocked onto the tracks by a deranged man who also fought with another man who had come to her rescue. The attacker chased the victim, Sabrina Scott, around the station, repeatedly asking, “Are you scared of me?” and grappled with the man who responded to her cries for help, according to reports. Scott, however, was knocked onto the tracks during the fracas and fell unconscious but her rescuer managed to bring her back onto the platform. The attacker, described only as a skinny Hispanic man in his 40s with a shaved head, fled. And the rescuer, described as a tall black man wearing headphones and a baseball cap, also disappeared.
DWI fender-bender
Police charged a motorist with driving while intoxicated after a two-car accident on the southbound FDR Dr. at Clinton St. around 7:10 a.m. Sun. Feb. 6. The suspect, Rodney Gripper, 43, of the Bronx, was identified as an off-duty transit employee. He was freed on his own recognizance pending an April 6 court appearance.
Robbers try boutique
Police arrested one of two men who grabbed a woman working at the Emile Lafaurie boutique at 199 Prince St. around 4 p.m. Thurs. Feb. 2 and tried to drag her to the basement and bind her hands. Albert Anderson, 48 was charged with robbery but his accomplice, identified as Anthony Gilman, 49, escaped, police said.
Foils phone snatch
A Queens man, 58 was walking on Canal St. between Wooster and Greene Sts around 1 p.m. Thurs., Feb. 3 when a stranger punched him in the chest and grabbed his cell phone from his coat pocket. The victim grabbed the phone back and police grabbed the suspect, Rumako Manwaring, 28, and charged him with robbery.
CDs hard sell
Three strangers stopped a man, 19, on Broadway in Soho around 4 p.m. Sun., Feb. 6 and sold him two CDs for $100, police said. The strangers followed the customer to the corner of Spring and Thompson Sts. and shouted, “Hey, take our phone number and let us know how you like the CDs.” When the customer tool out his cell phone, one of the trio grabbed it and another told him, “Give me your wallet. I have a knife and I’ll poke you.” The three fled with the victim’s cell phone and his wallet with $2,000 in cash, police said.
Gallery theft
Two men walked into Pom Gallery, 133 Greene St. around 3:25 p.m. Sat., Feb. 5 and after one of them engaged the attendant with questions, both walked out. The attendant told police that he discovered his digital camera had been stolen from his desk.
Rabbits hole entered
A woman working at Rabbits Café, 142 Sullivan St., told police she was in the rear of the place around 11:50 p.m. Sat., Feb.5 after the place was closed and spotted a man leaving the place. She discovered that her handbag, which she left on a counter in the front, had been stolen.
Wallet lifted
A woman told police that she discovered her wallet with her Taiwan passport, $170 in cash, and credit cards were gone from her backpack when she emerged from the Prince St. subway station at Broadway around 2:30 p.m. Sat., Feb. 5. The victim, 43, said she had bought a MetroCard with cash from the wallet a short time earlier.
Dancing the night away
A woman, 19, visiting from Greenville, S.C., put her bag on the floor by her table at the Canal Room, 285 Broadway near Reade St. around 2 a.m. Sun. when she went to the dance floor. She discovered 10 minutes later that it had been stolen along with her South Carolina driver’s license and credit cards.
— Albert Amateau
