Gaming violence
A Sixth Police Precinct officer chased and caught a suspect after a Thursday night Dec. 13 robbery and stabbing shortly after 9 p.m. on the steps of the Sixth Ave. subway station at W. Third St., police said.
The victim had been playing with an electronic game while riding a northbound train when a stranger grabbed the device and fled from the train at the W. Fourth St. station. The victim chased the thief and caught up with him on the stairs at street level at the W. Third St. end of the station, police said. The victim grabbed the suspect’s coat and hung on until the suspect pulled a knife, slashed the victim around the right eye and fled.
Officer Michael Susana responded to witnesses’ calls for help and caught the suspect, Robeson Clerveau, 17, at the corner of W. Fourth and MacDougal Sts. Clerveau was charged with first-degree assault and first-degree robbery. The victim received treatment and was not seriously injured in the assault.
Chelsea gunfire
Two gunfire incidents shattered the peace of the Elliott Chelsea housing complex on Nov. 30 and on Dec. 1 but no one was injured and Manhattan South Narcotics police arrested four suspects in the Nov. 30 incident.
A mobile command post, which police parked on W. 26th St. between Ninth and 10th Aves. on Dec. 1 in response to the gunfire and illegal drug activity, was removed on Dec. 15. “The 10th Precinct and P.S.A. 4 [Housing Division Police] will still maintain a significant presence in the area,” said Mike Patrillo, 10th Precinct community affairs officer.
In the Nov. 30 incident, Narcotics Division police gave chase and apprehended the four suspects after three shots were fired shortly after 7 p.m. in front of 420 W. 26th St.
Kashif Mose, 17, of 366 W. 127th St., Manhattan, was charged with narcotics and weapon possession after a 9-millimeter handgun was found tucked in his waistband and 15 envelopes of cocaine were found in his pockets, according to law enforcement officials. His next court date in Jan. 10. Three other suspects were not charged in the case and were released.
In the Dec.1 incident, two men exchanged 11 shots in front of 425 W. 25th St. shortly before 3 p.m. but fled before they could be apprehended. Three vehicles parked on W. 25th St. were hit but no one was in them, police said.
‘Fire fiend’ arrested
Peter Braunstein, the freelance writer suspected in the Halloween night sexual abuse of a Chelsea woman, was arrested Dec. 16 on a Memphis, Tenn., college campus where he stabbed himself twice in the neck as he was being challenged by a security guard.
The wounds bled profusely but were not critical and Memphis police held Braunstein until he was extradited and brought to New York on Monday night Dec. 19.
Braunstein, 41, was dressed as a fireman and started two small fires in the hall of the W. 24th St. building where his victim lived and then pushed his way into her apartment when she opened the door, according to the charges.
Once inside, he is alleged to have bound, sexually abused and videotaped the woman for more than 12 hours before fleeing. He was apparently acquainted with the victim, having once worked in the same magazine office with her.
Braunstein was identified as a possible suspect in the Chelsea case by his former girlfriend, who had brought stalking and menacing charges against him which were still pending at the time.
Braunstein was charged on Dec. 20 with first-degree sexual abuse, kidnapping, burglary, robbery and arson.
Soho holdup
A thief indicating that he had a gun held up a man sitting on a bench on the sidewalk at 390 W. Broadway on the evening of Dec. 10 and took $135 from the victim before fleeing, police said. The robber was described as a black man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 200 pounds.
Mother-daughter team
Two women who tried to walk out of a clothing boutique at 468 W. Broadway south of Houston St. on Saturday afternoon Dec. 5 without paying for clothes valued at $630, wrestled with a male employee, police said. They were held for police, who charged Tamara Williams, 19, and her mother, Denise Williams, 37, with robbery.
Ambush resident
A resident of 105 Thompson St. between Prince and Spring Sts. told police she entered the vestibule of her building at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 10 when an unknown thief came in behind her, snatched her bag with an iPod, her wallet and several credit cards and fled. The victim said the thief reached around her and grabbed the bag without showing his face.
Online theft
The manager of Melodrom, Ltd., a furniture store at 60 Greene St., reported on Thurs. Dec. 15 that an unknown thief made unauthorized online charges on the store’s checking account on Nov. 29 to pay two Con Edison bills and a bill at a grocery store on E. 180th St. in the Bronx, police said.
No forced entry
The manager of the eighth-floor office of CES Acquisition Corp, a real estate management firm, told police on Wednesday morning Dec. 14 that thieves had taken a Canon camera, a mobile phone and two BlackBerry P.D.A. devices with a total value of $1,240. There was no forced entry and the cleaning service, which had cleaned the office the night before, had the only set of keys apart from employees, according to police.
Shopper loses wallet
A shopper at Pearl River Department Store, 447 Broadway between Grand and Howard Sts., discovered her wallet missing on Thursday evening Dec. 15, police said. She cancelled her credit cards at 5:30 p.m. but discovered that four unauthorized purchases had been made totaling $1,480 at a P.C. Richard electronics store on E. 14th St., a Radio Shack store, a baby goods store and a discount pharmacy.
Bag gone at eatery
A woman patron at Bari Restaurant on Spring and Mercer Sts. found that her bag, which she had draped on the back of her chair, was missing after dinner at 7 p.m. Fri. Dec. 9, police said. She lost the bag with her wallet, $300 cash, a Dell computer notebook and personal papers, with a total value of $1,676, police said.
Albert Amateau
