Punk beat down
A man beaten unconscious in a fight in Tompkins Square Park on Saturday was initially believed close to death, but turned out to be less seriously injured than first thought. According to Deputy Inspector Dennis De Quatro, Ninth Precinct commanding officer, two men punched and kicked another man on the park’s west side near Eighth St. — between the chess tables and playground — at 3 p.m.
Police initially arrested three men: Joseph Wick, 30, of Maryland; Brian Hostetter, 30, of Pennsylvania; and a 38-year-old man from Queens. Police subsequently voided the arrest of the Queens man, after concluding he was not involved in the beating. The other two were charged with second-degree assault. The victim, Keith Reilly, 38, of Schenectady, was removed to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition.
According to witnesses, the fight started over an argument about the punk singer GG Allin. Allin, who died in 1993, was known for his wild stage antics, including defecating and urinating onstage and rolling in excrement.
Attempted murder
Ninth Precinct police arrested a suspect in a shooting in the Baruch Houses grounds in the Seventh Precinct last week after he fled from the Lower East Side precinct to the East Village precinct.
According to Deputy Inspector De Quatro, on Tues., May 15, at 10:05 p.m., three men robbed a 32-year-old man of a gold chain at Baruch 75 Dr., then shot him three times with a semiautomatic handgun in the back and legs. An hour later, based on police radio reports of one suspect’s appearance and how he was dressed, Police Officer Collins, of the Ninth Precinct, who was patrolling in a police car, identified the man fleeing on a bike down E. Seventh St. at Avenue D, and pursued him.
According to De Quatro, the suspect ditched his bike between two parked cars and tried to blend in with pedestrians on the sidewalk, before police arrested him. Police identified the suspect as Joseph Ramirez, 29, of 203 Rivington St. He was charged with attempted murder and robbery in the first degree.
Police did not recover the weapon. The two other suspects have not been apprehended.
Subway pickpocket
Police arrested a man who was observed picking the pocket and taking credit cards from a man on an A train in the W. Fourth St. subway station at 3:15 a.m. Sun., May 13. Police said the suspect, John Bronston, 28, admitted that he also took credit cards from the pocket of a man sleeping on a bench in the Penn Station waiting room during the early hours of April 8.
Massage and meth
After a raid at 59 Canal St. on Sunday night May 13, police arrested Steeve Lee, 40, for promoting prostitution, running an unlicensed massage parlor and possession of methamphetamine pills.
Lee let an undercover officer into the front room of the premises near Orchard St. at 7 p.m. and said the undercover could choose any one of the six women in the room, pay him $50 for a massage and $30 minimum to the woman for her services, according to the charge filed by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
The undercover then took one of the women into a separate room while other officers came into the front room and arrested Lee as he was tucking 40 methamphetamine pills under a sofa cushion, according to the charges. Mei-Peng Wong was also charged with offering an unlicensed massage.
New shooting arrest
Police arrested a second suspect on Tues., May 15, in connection with the 4:30 a.m. May 14 shooting of a teenager in the Rutgers Houses complex at Rutgers and Madison Sts. Salvador Leon, 18, a Rutgers Houses resident, was charged with attempted murder in the shooting, in which Eddie Maldonado, 18, was hit in the thigh and the hand and taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Defreitis Rasaad, 16, was arrested a few minutes after the May 14 shooting. Police said they fired a shot at Rasaad but missed when he pointed a .22-caliber pistol at them.
Jet vs. Obama aide
Justin Miller, a New York Jets kick returner, was arrested early Sun., May 20, as he was trying to flee from police investigating the assault of a woman outside of the Maritime Hotel on W. 16th St. and Ninth Ave., police said. The incident started when Miller, 23, became involved in a shouting and pushing match with a group of people outside the hotel at about 4:20 a.m. He punched one of them in the face, knocked her to the pavement and fled, according to the misdemeanor assault complaint.
The victim, identified in a May 22 Daily News article as Kristen Jarvis, 26, an aide on the staff of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, sustained a bruised jaw and an injury to her knee when she fell. Jarvis and her friends had just left Aer Lounge on W. 13th St., when they encountered Miller outside of the Maritime, according to reports.
Police in a passing patrol car apprehended Miller in the hotel garage, according to reports. His lawyer, Aaron Wallenstein, denied the charge, saying the woman attacked Miller, who was only trying to defend himself. Miller is due to appear in court June 25.
Albert Amateau and Lincoln Anderson
