Images of the W. 14th St. sexual assault suspect were caught on cameras, above and at left.
W. 14th sexual assault
Police are seeking a sexual assault suspect who attacked a woman, 24, around 11:20 p.m. Fri., April 30, after he pushed his way into her third-floor apartment at 322 W. 14th St., between Eighth and Ninth Aves. The suspect, described as 5 feet 7 inches tall, 185 pounds, dressed in white like a deliveryman and wearing his hair in a long ponytail beneath a closefitting, white “do-rag,” pushed the victim to the floor and grabbed her crotch but fled when she screamed for help, police said. Information on the suspect should be phoned to Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (8477).
Arrest Puck guard
Police arrested Ian Wallen, 42, a guard at the Puck Building, 295 Lafayette St. near East Houston St., on Mon., April 26, and charged him with burglary and larceny in connection with the theft of two laptop computers from offices on the eighth floor of the building around 12:30 a.m. Sat., April 24.
Wallen, a Queens resident, was recorded on a surveillance tape stuffing the laptops in the back of his trousers, police said. He pleaded not guilty to third-degree burglary and fourth-degree larceny charges and is to appear in court June 2, said a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr.
False police report
Patrick Pogan, the former rookie police officer charged with assault for pushing a Critical Mass bicycle rider to the ground near Times Square in July 2008 and filing a false police report on the incident, was declared not guilty of assault but guilty of filing a false report on Thurs., April 29. Pogan, who resigned from the New York Police Department soon after the incident, faces up to four years in jail at his June 23 sentencing, but he could get no jail time at all. In his December sworn complaint about the incident, Pogan said the rider, Christopher Long, purposely ran into him. The pushing incident was caught on video and seen by millions on YouTube. Long sued the city for false arrest and the city settled the case for $65,000.
Clinic protesters guilty
Two men were found guilty on Mon., April 26, in a non-jury Federal Court trial for unlawfully blocking the entrance to the Planned Parenthood clinic at Bleecker and Mott Sts. last December.
The defendants, Richard Dugan of Breaux Bridge, La., and Theodore Puckett of Normandy, Tenn., anti-abortion activists, were found guilty by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Robert W. Sweet of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act on Dec. 9 when they were arrested for preventing clinic staff and patients from entering or leaving the premises. The bench trial marks the first time the act was invoked in New York.
Dugan and Puckett face maximum jail terms of six months and fines of up to $10,000 when they are sentenced June 10.
Domestic rage
Police arrested Brett Leibowitz for assaulting his longtime girlfriend in their apartment at 155 Avenue C on Tuesday morning April 27. The couple were arguing when the defendant picked up an object, threw it at the victim and inflicted a gash on her head, police said. She was taken to the hospital and treated. An order of protection against the suspect is pending, police said.
Pizzeria rage
A patron of Karavas Pizzeria, 72 Christopher St. at Seventh Ave. South, became irate because he could not find his cell phone and he smashed the place’s glass front door around 4:30 a.m. Fri., April 30, police said.
Falls into hole
A landscaping contractor planting flowers in front of The New School building at 65 W. 11th St. on Wednesday afternoon April 28 fell through a sidewalk grate at 2 p.m. into a deep excavation, police said. The victim screamed for help and an Emergency Medical Services member and a police officer were lowered into the narrow hole and rescued the victim, who was taken to Bellevue Hospital with leg and ankle injuries.
Random Bleecker punch
A man was standing in front of 149 Bleecker St. at 2:33 a.m. Fri., April 30, when a stranger came up and punched him in the face. Police patrolling the block, between LaGuardia Place and Thompson St., where several bars are located, arrested Ken Nettles, 31, and charged him with third-degree assault.
Gone from the trunk
A Queens woman, 33, who parked her car on the northeast corner of Sullivan and Spring Sts. around 9:30 p.m. Sat., May 1, returned at 4 a.m. the next day to find that her bag with $3,500 in cash that she had put in the trunk was gone, police said. There were no broken locks or windows, but the empty bag and some textbooks that had been in it were found on the block.
Gone from back seat
A woman, 36, who parked her car in front of 80 Wooster St., south of Spring St., around 1:20 p.m. Thurs., April 29, returned to find a rear passenger window smashed and a laptop computer, a digital camera and $2,150 in cash had been stolen.
Soho student stabbed
An 18-year-old student at the high school on Sixth Ave. between Dominick and Broome Sts. was stabbed in the lower back when he went to Soho Square Park near the school around noon Tues., April 20, with some friends, police said. The victim told police that another group of teens attacked him and his friends suddenly and without provocation. He was taken to Roosevelt Hospital in stable condition.
Moving-day theft
A woman who was moving from her sixth-floor apartment at 34 Watts St., at Sixth Ave., around 6 p.m. Fri., April 30, carried her bag, briefcase and clothes to the lobby preparing to load them into her car parked outside. When she returned from bringing more clothes to the lobby, she discovered that her laptop computer, shoes and eight watches had been stolen.
Albert Amateau
