Five stabbed in Soho club
A brawl inside the building at 600 Broadway at the southeast corner of Houston St. Sunday morning, Jan. 4 ended at 4:15 a.m. with stabbings in which five men were injured, four of them taken to hospitals and three of them arrested, police said.
Erik Belis, 27, and Kwavnes Despinosse, 24, both of Washington Heights, and Jonathan Soto, 20 of Atlanta, Ga., were charged with first-degree assault and criminal possession of weapons, police said. The case is still under investigation.
Captain William Matusiak, commanding officer of the Fifth Police Precinct, said the location, known as Pseudo, has had problems with patrons causing property damage on their way out and noise. The space, which Matusiak said is “huge,” and is located on the fifth and sixth floors, doubles as a production studio for music videos and party space. Pseudo sells tickets for parties through the Internet.
Matusiak said he visited the club’s owner on Monday, who told him he plans to leave soon.
“He said he’d be out of there in April and is moving to Midtown,” Matusiak said. “So it’ll be problem solved. He said he’s not going to have anything going on till April. [The incident] was a dispute over a girl or something…. People in the precinct are familiar with the place.”
Matusiak said the incident occurred during a private party. For parties at which alcohol is sold, Pseudo has to get one-day special-event licenses. He said the landlord has a long-running feud with Pseudo and has wanted them out for some time.
Gay bashing in East Village
Three unidentified men in their 20s, yelled anti-gay epithets at a 25-year-old man at the corner of E. Third St. and Second Ave. and then punched and kicked him on the night of Dec. 23, police said. The victim was bruised but refused medical attention. Police are investigating the case as a bias crime.
Chelsea New Year’s knifing
Police arrested two men during the early hours of New Year’s Day in connection with the stabbing of a man at the corner of W. 29th St. and 10th Ave, police said. Michael O’Hare, 31, of 615 E. Fourth St. and Justin Duffy, 33, of 281 Avenue C were charged with second-degree assault. The victim, 24, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital in stable condition with two stab wounds in the back, police said.
Dies in cell after arrest at 6th
Guards at the Criminal Courts found a prisoner in a holding cell unconscious at 9:30 p.m. Sun. Jan 4 and called an Emergency Medical Service team who took the victim, 46, to NYU Downtown Hospital where he was declared dead on arrival.
The New York Times reported that the man — who had been arrested more than 70 times — had medication with him at the time of his arrest at the Sixth Precinct for criminal trespassing, but that it was taken from him at the Greenwich Village stationhouse.
Det. Mike Singer, Sixth Precinct community officer, declined comment and referred questions to Police Headquarters.
Officer Doris Garcia, a police spokesperson, said, “The Medical Examiner determined the victim had an enlarged heart, which caused his death. Police procedure is you can’t have medication with you in the cell. We’ll have it. It will be given to you as needed.”
The reason police take away medication is to prevent overdoses, she said.
With friends like this…
A resident of 159 Prince St., near Thompson St., told police that an acquaintance had entered his apartment without permission around 7:30 p.m. Mon. Jan 5 and made off with a computer, several cameras and other electronic equipment.
Not very helpful
A stranger who was helping a woman clean off a stain on her coat on Spring St. near Thompson St. on Mon. Jan. 5 shortly before noon lifted her wallet with $40 and credit cards, police said. Thieves working in pairs often squirt a substance like ketchup or mustard on a victim’s coat and then steal a wallet or bag while acting as if to help clean it off.
Cooper Village bank job
Police arrested Susan Karp, 48, of E. 20th St. in Peter Cooper Village on Monday afternoon Dec. 29 and charged her with robbing a Chase branch bank at 400 E. 23rd St. a few minutes before her arrest.
Karp is often observed in the neighborhood sitting alone wearing a heavy coat and wool hat even in summer, according to a Daily News report. She was charged with passing a note to a teller demanding money shortly after 2 p.m. and walking out with an undisclosed amount of cash.
