Wald Houses slaying
An argument on Avenue D in the grounds of the Lillian Wald Houses between two men over their girlfriends on Tuesday night March 9 ended with one man stabbed to death and the suspect arrested.
Police charged Louis Dawson, 34, of 20 Avenue D in the Wald Houses, with stabbing his rival, Luis Johnson, 29, several times in the neck, arm and chest, penetrating the heart, according to the charges. During the confrontation, Johnson slashed Dawson’s hand with a razor, police said. An Emergency Medical Service unit pronounced Johnson dead at the scene. After the stabbing, Dawson drove a short distance away, stashed the knife under his car and returned to the scene, where he showed police his bleeding hand and claimed that he was an innocent victim, police said. Both Johnson, a Staten Island resident, and Dawson had several previous convictions, according to the daily press.
Dawson was being held without bail pending a State Supreme Court appearance on March 19 on charges of second-degree murder and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney.
Brought to justice
Jose Heras was sentenced to three and a half to seven years in prison on Fri., March 12, for the drunken hit-and-run death 12 years ago of Kristen Nemec, 25, as she was running across a Village street with friends with whom she had been celebrating a wedding.
Heras was arrested shortly after the fatal crash but skipped out on $3,500 bail and fled to his native Ecuador where he lived until police tracked him down and extradited him.
Nemec, a native of Los Angeles, had come to New York from Blacksburg, Va., to serve as a bridesmaid at her friend’s wedding on May 24, 1997. She was struck and killed in the early hours of the next morning as she was crossing the street at Houston St. and LaGuardia Place. Her parents and friends were in the courtroom on March 12 to hear Heras’s tearful apology and sentencing for vehicular manslaughter and bail jumping.
Fatal fall or jump
Police responded to a call at 9:34 p.m. Sun., March 14, about a man who was unconscious and not breathing, lying in the grassy area in front of 60 Columbia St. in the Baruch Houses complex. An Emergency Medical Service team declared the victim, identified only as a Hispanic man, age 49, dead on arrival. Police are investigating the circumstances of the death, but believed it was the result of a jump or fall from the building. Police were not releasing the man’s identification pending family notification.
Bowling bash
A New Jersey man, 23, was talking to a woman in Bowlmor Lanes, 110 University Place, around 2:15 a.m. Sat., March 6, when an assailant grabbed him from behind, swung him around and hit him over the head with a beer bottle, police said. Police arrested Paul Cornale, 26, and charged him with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, the bottle.
Where’s the body!!!
The director of Redden’s Funeral Home, 325 W. 14th St., parked his van in a no-parking zone in front of the funeral home around 9:20 a.m. on Mon., March 8, and went inside to get documents that he needed to take the body in the van to Newark Airport for shipment to Miami. But he took some phone calls and came out about three hours later to find the van and the body gone, according to reports. A frantic search of the city tow pound on Pier 76, at W. 36th St., at 1:40 p.m. turned up the van and its cargo, according to a Daily News article. The body made it to the airport in time to catch the flight to Miami, the article said. A police spokesperson told the News that there was nothing to indicate the car was anything but an illegally parked vehicle. The funeral director acknowledged that his placard reading, “Licensed Funeral Director on Official Business,” had fallen flat and was not clearly visible from outside the van.
Lady muggers bagged
Two Brooklyn women told police they were on the northeast corner of Sixth Ave. and W. Third St. chatting around 4:10 a.m. Wed., March 10, when three women suspects approached them and started punching them, grabbed their handbags and fled into the W. Fourth St. subway station and got on a southbound A train. Police broadcast the suspects’ description, and a train was stopped at the High St. station in Brooklyn, where the suspects were held until the victims arrived and identified them. One of the victims’ bags was recovered, and the suspects, Laiysteresa Ortega, 27; Fiolda Papillon, 21; and Toni Jones, 25, all of Brooklyn, were charged with robbery. Seven small bags of marijuana were found on the subway seats where the suspects were sitting, police said.
Crack attack
Police said a suspect observed smoking a crack pipe on the steps of a building at 112 Washington Place near Barrow St. around 9:30 p.m. Wed., March 10, fought with the arresting officer and injured him. Joseph Carter, 43, was charged with assaulting a police officer and tampering with evidence by throwing his crack pipe to the ground where it smashed. A search of the suspect at the Sixth Precinct stationhouse turned up a plastic wrapper and a small stick with crack cocaine residue, police said.
Albert Amateau
