TOE-CRUNCHING ARGUMENT
A First Precinct police officer was busy writing a ticket for a car parked outside 147 Mercer Street on Sat., Aug 4 at around 6 p.m. when 28-year-old Julien Chabbott, the owner of the vehicle, approached him to talk. Although he was told to wait on the sidewalk until the officer finished the summons, Chabbott refused and kept asking, “Are you done?” while trying to grab the officer’s notebook. As if that weren’t enough, the disgruntled motorist proceeded to enter his vehicle, start it and pull away from the curb — but not before running over the officer’s left foot.
Chabbott was quickly stopped and arrested for assaulting a police officer.
SCOOTER THIEF
A resident of Sullivan Street reported his motor scooter stolen on Sun., July 22, after it disappeared from the corner of Sixth Avenue and Broome Street. The owner was on vacation at the time when his house sitter called to say that his new 2012 Vespa was missing from its parking spot. No video cameras captured the grand larceny, and no suspects have been named.
OUTFIT THEFT
A man was arrested for robbery out- side the Old Navy store at 503 Broadway shortly after 5 p.m. on Fri., Aug. 3. The unnamed perp, 32, had taken a pair of shoes, khaki pants, crew socks, a shirt and two pairs of boxers, totaling $98, and stuffed them into a bag that he attempted to stroll out with.
When confronted by an Old Navy employee, the man put up a fight, eventually injuring the thumb of a bystander. The robber was apprehended by officers after leading them on a short chase down Broadway.
UNATTENDED PURSE WOES
On Sun., Aug. 5 at 1 a.m., a woman at Skippers Pierside Café (89 South Street) left her purse under a table while heading to the bar for a drink. Though the woman, 25, told police she left the bag unattended for only five minutes, it was gone when she returned with her liquor. The purse contained an iPhone 4, valued at $150, along with three credit cards, a debit card, her keys and $20 in cash. Information about the suspect wasn’t available, since the woman didn’t see anyone approach the table.
PRICEY PIPES MISSING
When an employee of Perfetto Construction showed up to his work site at the corner of South Street and Old Slip on Thurs., Aug 2 around 2 p.m., he
noticed that 11 steel pipes of various sizes were missing. He immediately reported the suspected theft to police, saying that it was the third time it had happened. The employee also told the officers that whoever stole the pipes must have had plenty of time and a great deal of heavy machinery, as the missing load weighed around 500 pounds.
The pipes were not just hefty, but also pricey — the worker estimated their total value to be $15,000.
BOYFRIEND SAVES THE DAY
On Fri., Aug. 3 around 5:30 p.m., a woman and her boyfriend were with friends at Suspenders bar and restaurant (111 Broadway), when a strange, middle-aged man struck up a conversation with them. When briefly stepping outside, the woman realized that the stranger, later identified as 55-year- old John Puglise, had stolen her wallet.
Her boyfriend quickly ran out to check the 4 and 5 subway station down the block, and, sure enough, he found Puglise standing there with the wallet sticking out of his back pocket. Police arrested Puglise for grand larceny and found that he was too drunk to be interviewed that night.
‘CUTIE WITH AN IPHONE’
Police are on the hunt for two suspects who allegedly snatched a $600 iPhone 4S from a young woman on Fri., Aug. 3 around 1 a.m. as she was walking up Fulton Street to her friend’s apartment. The 20-year-old woman told officers that two suspects — a tall black man and a short black woman — approached her and stopped her from walking past them. The man, she said, attempted to grab the phone but missed, and then called her a “cutie with an iPhone.” As he spoke the distracting line, his accomplice quickly grabbed the phone away, and the two suspects fled on foot.
CAN’T SAY NO TO THAT
A young man was walking past the corner of Greenwich and Edgar Streets on Thurs., Aug. 2 at around 3:30 a.m., when a middle-aged man stopped to ask for a cigarette. Moments later, the stranger asked him for his wallet. When the unsuspecting victim said, “No,” the man pulled out a knife. The younger man willingly handed over the wallet — which he said contained credit and debit cards, a MetroCard and his driver’s license — and watched helplessly as the knife-wielder fled north on Greenwich Street. The victim described the suspect to police as a white male around 50 years old and 5’11’’.
— Sam Spokony
