Women attack vendor
Words exchanged between a man and a group of young women at W. Third St. and Sixth Ave. early Friday morning Aug. 16 ended with the women ganging up and attacking the man and his being stabbed in the stomach, police said. According to police, seven women, between the ages of 18 and 31, got into a dispute with the man, age 28, and he was knifed. Police caught the suspects at W. Fourth and Jones Sts. A knife was recovered at the scene of the arrest. The victim was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital where he was listed in stable condition.
Arrested were Patreese Johnson, 19; Venice Brown, 18; Renata Hill, 24; Chenese Loyal, 19; Lania Daniels, 21; Khamysha Coates, 31; and Terrain Dandridge, 19. Detective Kevin Czartoryski, a Police Department spokesperson, said all the women have been charged with gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Newspaper reports identified the victim as Dwayne Buckle, of Queens, who works as a sidewalk vendor on Sixth Ave. by the IFC movie theater, and the women as being from Newark and Orange, N.J. Buckle is said to have made a comment to Johnson and been rebuffed. Accounts vary on what happened next, with The New York Times reporting that one of the women spit at Buckle after which he spit back, while the Daily News said only Buckle spit at the women — after which they jumped him. The Daily News described the women as “petite but ornery lesbians.”
In a statement, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who represents the district, said, “Physical violence is clearly not the answer to inappropriate or hurtful remarks or to unwanted sexual attention. I condemn this physical attack and I look forward to the Police Department’s full investigation of the incident.”
Bank robbery
A bank robber entered the 72 Second Ave. Bank of America branch last week, passed a teller a note, received an undisclosed amount of money and fled on foot, according to police. Deputy Inspector Dennis De Quatro, Ninth Precinct commanding officer, said the suspect is a white male, age 50, 5 feet 11 inches, with brown hair and a medium build, and was unshaven and wearing a tan baseball cap.
Another cyclist killed
On Sun. Aug. 20, a 34-year-old man on a bike was fatally struck by a car at the intersection of Avenue L and E. 92nd St. in Brooklyn. Police said the victim, identified as Keith Powell of 1310 E. 93rd St., Brooklyn, was hit at 4:55 p.m. by a blue Ford Probe traveling westbound on Avenue L. Powell was taken to Brookdale Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The driver of the car, described as a male black in his 20s, fled the scene. The car was later recovered at Avenue L and 90th St. An investigation determined it had been reported stolen.
Rammed by fire truck
A fire engine leaving the firehouse at Houston St. and Sixth Ave. on Monday at 5:55 p.m. crashed into a car traveling westbound on Houston St. The car’s driver was removed to St. Vincent’s Hospital. The Fire Department didn’t release the victim’s name or condition, but said the car’s driver was the only person injured. Ian Dutton, a Soho resident and public member of Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee, said he happened on the scene as the driver was being loaded into an ambulance and overheard a firefighter tell police that the driver’s injuries “weren’t too bad,” but that they had had to peel the car’s door off to get him out. “‘Not that bad’! It’s hard to believe,” Dutton said.
Dump truck tips
A large dump truck unloading dirt in front of P.S. 63 at 121 E. Third St. in the East Village Tuesday morning tipped over on its side. According to a worker at the site, the truck became top heavy and then started to pitch over to one side. A witness who lives across the street at the First Houses said he was sleeping when he heard a loud crash and thud and looked out his window to see the toppled truck. The construction project to fix a water seepage problem in the school’s basement has been ongoing for the past year. The driver was unharmed in the accident, according to workers at the scene.
Three-alarm Soho blaze
More than 100 firefighters rushed to the corner of Spring St. and West Broadway Sunday night as the top floor and roof of a six-story residential building burst into flames. The three-alarm fire at 167 Spring St. left five firefighters with minor injuries, said Firefighter Banks, a department spokesperson. The cause of the blaze, which started at 10:58 p.m., is being investigated.
Lincoln Anderson and Anindita Dasgupta
