L.E.S. kids in line of fire
A rash of shootings has been plaguing the area around the Lower East Side housing projects. Above, on July 7, a 13-year-old girl was wounded in the leg outside 71 Columbia St. Below, on July 22, a 10-year-old boy was wounded in the shoulder outside 100 Pitt St.
Lobby sex attack
A woman, 20, walking to her apartment at 312 E. Ninth St. at about 1:50 a.m. Wed., July 18, was sexually assaulted by a man who followed her into the lobby of her building, grabbed her buttocks and tried to put his hands up her dress, police said.
The victim screamed and the suspect, described as black or Hispanic, in his 20s, 5 feet 9 inches, weighing 190 pounds, fled on foot east on Ninth St. The suspect did not speak during the attack, police said.
On Sun., July 7, an unidentified man in his 20s followed a woman, 24, into the lobby of a friend’s building on Clinton St. near Stanton St. and grabbed her from behind. He fled after the woman screamed and her friend came down the stairs to aid her. However, police do not believe the suspect in the July 7 incident is the same person in the July 18 attack on E. Ninth St.
Falls to death
James Albrecht, 21, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, fell to his death from the roof of a five-story building at 245 E. 14th St. to a second-story ledge sometime on Sun., July 22, police said.
Police who found the body at 8 p.m. are investigating whether Albrecht, who had been living on St. Mark’s Pl. for the past few months, fell, was pushed or jumped from the roof during a party. A witness told police she had seen someone fitting Albrecht’s description at 3 a.m. July 22 standing on the roof and apparently drunk.
Albrecht, of Naperville, Ill., was president of his dorm and vice president of the M.I.T. Dorm Council and was scheduled to graduate with a B.A. in math and a master’s degree in computer design next spring.
Dies of wounds
Yency Araujo, 22, who was stabbed on July 6 outside of Rocket Joe’s Pizza, 61 Delancey St., near Orchard St., after he and a friend got into an argument with two men, died of his wounds last week. Police are seeking the two suspects in what has now been classified as a murder.
Stray bullet
A stray bullet struck a boy, William Claudio, 10, while he was in a playground in the Samuel Gompers Houses, 100 Pitt St., shortly before 10 p.m. Sun., July 22. Claudio was hit in the right shoulder and a bullet fragment also struck his right forearm just above the wrist, according to reports.
Three weeks earlier, on July 7, not far from the site of the July 22 incident, a stray bullet hit a girl, 13, as she was leaving a community center at 71 Columbia St.
Police from the Seventh Precinct arrested four drug suspects on Mon., July 23, and were questioning two of them about the Pitt St. shooting, according to a Newsday article.
Note gets naught
A man who walked into the Chase bank branch on Broadway near Bleecker St. on Saturday morning, July 14, passed a note demanding money to a teller, who refused to comply. The suspect fled empty-handed, police said.
Attempted robbery
Police arrested Charles Smith, 33, on Sun., July 15, in connection with the gunpoint holdup of a woman at about 1:20 a.m. on E. 15th St. near Fifth Ave. The victim, 22, scared off the suspect when she shouted for help, police said. She then phoned police from a friend’s apartment nearby and officers apprehended the suspect in the neighborhood and charged him with attempted robbery. Smith has a previous robbery conviction. Bail was set at $40,000 bond pending an Oct. 25 court date.
Attacks girlfriend
Angel Alamo, 55, was charged with assault, unlawful imprisonment and threatening to kill his estranged girlfriend in her apartment at 20 Avenue D on Saturday evening, July 14, according to District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s Office. Alamo entered the apartment of the victim, 51, in violation of a court order of protection, slammed her head against a wall, and threatened to kill her if she admitted police who had been summoned and were knocking at the door, according to the charges. Bail was set at $2,000 pending an Aug. 24 court appearance.
Beating, rape charges
Eli Figueroa, 28, was arrested for breaking into an apartment at 130 Columbia St. in the Baruch Houses on July 16 and punching and slapping his 18-year-old wife, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Charged with burglary and assault, he was also charged with rape after police learned that he had sex twice with his wife when she was 16, younger than the age of consent. Bail was set at $4,000 pending an Oct. 25 court appearance.
Auto assault
Reinaldo Lopez, 46, was charged with assault on a policeman, reckless endangerment and obstruction of government administration on Monday morning, July 19, in connection with a traffic incident at a construction site at Clarkson St. and Seventh Ave. S., the District Attorney’s Office said.
Instead of obeying an officer’s direction to yield the right of way at the construction site, Lopez drove his car straight at the officer, who grabbed the side of the car and was dragged several feet before he was able to arrest the suspect, according to the charges. The officer sustained cuts and bruises and a broken thumb. Lopez was free on $2,000 bail pending an Oct. 25 court appearance.
Hit with bottle
Three men were charged with assault, and one of them also with criminal possession of a weapon, in connection with a Sat., July 14, attack at 4:45 a.m. on a man as he was leaving Avalon, the club located in a former church on Sixth Ave. at 20th St., the District Attorney’s Office said. Carrington Black, 20, was charged with assault and with criminal possession of a weapon for hitting the victim, 25, on the ear and the side of the head with a bottle. Charged with assault were Kirwan Jahman, 18, and Darrell Wright, 21. Bail for Black was set at $4,000 and for the other two defendants at $1,000 each pending their appearance in court on Oct. 25.
Subway arrests
Transit police arrested two brothers, Jonathan Castillo, 18, and Jason Castillo, 17, in the Eighth Ave. subway station at 14th St. shortly before 1 a.m. Mon., July 16, and charged them with interfering with a police investigation and resisting arrest.
Hudson Sq. burglary
A burglar pried open the door of a fifth-floor office at 100 Vandam St. on Friday morning, July 13, and made off with a 40-inch plasma TV valued at $1,200, police said.
Club losses
A woman patron of the Pink Berry restaurant on the northwest corner of Eighth Ave. at 15th St. had her wallet stolen from her bag, which she had draped over the back of her chair, on Saturday night, July 14.
Women patrons of Obivia, 201 Lafayette St.; Tenjune, 26 Little W. 12th St.; and LUV, on Sullivan St. between W. Third and Bleecker Sts., told police that their wallets were stolen from their bags while the were at the clubs on Sun., July 15.
A woman who put her credit and debit cards in an unlocked locker at New York Sports Club, 125 Seventh Ave. S., on Sunday found them stolen when she returned.
Pen pals
Burglars broke into the front door of the Mont Blanc shop at 118 Greene St., near Prince St., about 3 a.m. Thurs., July 12, and made off with 15 pens with a total value of $56,280 police said. The thieves broke the glass door, cut through a security gate and smashed display cases to get at the pricey pens. Surveillance cameras recorded the image of three intruders, and police collected samples of blood found near a smashed display case.
False ID
Two teenage girls were arrested during the early hours of Sun., July 17, and charged with criminal impersonation for trying to enter a club at 50 Gansevoort St. while using IDs belonging to other people, police said.
Village stabbing
A man with an unidentified sharp object stabbed another man and punctured his lung at about 8:30 p.m. Sun., July 15, outside of 95 MacDougal St., police said.
Albert Amateau
