Ambulance accident
An ambulance and another vehicle collided at E. Houston St. and Avenue C around 12 p.m. Tues., April 29, police said. Seven people were injured and taken to Bellevue and St. Vincent’s hospitals, but the extent of their injuries was not known at press time on Tuesday.
Sentence phone thief
Joseph Hernandez, 28, was sentenced to 60 days in jail on Fri., April 18, after pleading guilty to stealing a cell phone from a woman on Sun., April 13, in ICE, a club at 31 Second Ave. The victim called her phone when she discovered it was stolen and Hernandez answered and agreed to return it for $50, according to the charges. The victim told police and then met Hernandez in front of the PATH station on Christopher St., but he handed the phone to a friend and fled. Police arrested him in the station.
Molested in subway Transit police arrested Oscar Atilano, 32, in the Union Square subway station shortly after 3:20 a.m. Sat., April 19, after a woman passenger, 26, told them that he rubbed against her buttocks on a No. 6 train that was entering the station. He was charged with sexual abuse and was being held pending a March 5 arraignment, according to the office of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.
Bank robber Police are seeking a man who threatened a teller in the Banco Popular branch at E. Houston and Ridge Sts. at gunpoint on Tuesday morning April 22 and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. The same suspect is also wanted for the Wed., April 23, robbery in Brooklyn of a Washington Mutual bank branch on Liberty Ave. in East New York, where he again escaped with an undisclosed amount of money after threatening a teller with a gun.
Mugging charge Police arrested one of three people accused of mugging a man on Christopher St. between Washington and West Sts. about 4:30 p.m. Tues., April 22. Jorge Castro, of Union City, N.J., was charged with robbery for punching the victim and knocking him to the ground to enable his two accomplices to take the victim’s wallet and his cell phone. The accomplices fled, but police apprehended Castro. Castro was being held pending a May 30 arraignment.
Bank St. assault A group of four or five men came up behind a Village man walking his dog on Bank St. between Waverly Pl. and W. Fourth St. at 8:46 p.m. Sat., April 12, hit him in the neck and kicked his dog, according to neighbors. The dog came back and held one of the suspects by chomping down on the cuff of his pants. The suspects then tried to push the 12-pound dog into a sewer but fled after a neighbor came out and said she had a gun and had police on the phone.
Albert Amateau
