Fur vendors gone wild
Three fur vendors were arrested in Soho on Saturday after they threw bleach on anti-fur activists.
The attack — during which at least four individuals were hit with the liquid, including a small child — came during one of the ongoing protests against the “fur stall” — a sidewalk location where furs are sold — at Broadway and Spring Sts.
According to Robert Banks, a spokesperson for the protesters, two of the men involved in the attack had gone up to the rooftop of the six-story building above the protest and then poured gallons of bleach onto the crowds below, “hitting two babies, a police officer and even covering their own fur coats with the noxious substance.”
Fifteen anti-animal-cruelty activists had gathered at the spot to continue their weekly demonstration at the fur stall, which holds up to 100 fur pieces, the majority of which are new fur from minks, rabbits, foxes, seals, raccoons and chinchillas, the activists say.
The fur foes railed through a megaphone about the creatures’ suffering, held large images of animals exploited in the fur industry, and on a laptop showed video footage of the fur industry’s cruelty.
Police reportedly had been at the scene for a few minutes before the attack and were part of the crowd hit by the bleach. The officers commenced a search of the building and arrested the two fur vendors, who were reportedly caught red-handed with their bleach bottles and buckets still in hand. A third fur vendor was also arrested for his part in the attack.
The remaining fur vendors were ordered to shut down their stall and leave the area.
A police spokesperson confirmed that three men were arrested for “acting in concert” to throw a mixture of bleach and ammonia: David Haber, 53, of Cortland, N.Y.; and Luis Justino, 40, and Lawrence Andrews, 35, both of the Bronx. They were all charged with second-degree reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.
A video of the incident is posted at https://bit.ly/13SWb6o , at the end of which one of the activists shouts through the bullhorn, “I’d like to make a shout-out to those who tried to silence the animals. You lose! The animals have spoken today!”
Pointed encounter
A pedestrian took up arms against a motorist blocking the sidewalk near the southeast corner of Sixth Ave. and Washington Place. At about 10:30 p.m. on Mon., Dec. 15, the pedestrian began yelling at the 37-year-old driver of the vehicle. When the driver exited the car he received a poke in the stomach from the knife-wielding pedestrian, who then fled. The victim refused medical attention.
Police arrested Marc Firstenberg, 67, the next evening and charged him with felony assault.
Soho gunpoint robbery
According to police, on Wed., Dec. 17, at about 8:10 p.m., two men armed with guns robbed an unidentified man inside 166 Mercer St. in Soho, which is reportedly a doorman building.
A police spokesperson said the two suspects, who were dressed as utility workers, took the victim to the basement, where he was punched in the head and tied up.
The pair falsely believed there was a safe with cash in the basement. They displayed black firearms and threatened to kill him.
In the end, they took his wallet containing $800 and, initially, his phone — but then left the phone, before fleeing.
The victim was uninjured. It was not immediately clear whether he was a building resident or employee. There have been no arrests and an investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, 800-577-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or texting to 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577.
Uber-rude passenger
A driver for Uber, a commercial ride-sharing service, picked up passengers at about 9 p.m. on the night of Dec. 16, only to see they were toting an open container of alcohol. When he asked the passengers to exit the vehicle near the southeast corner of Seventh Ave. South and Bleecker St., he did not receive any apology.
Instead, police said that Michael Rascoe, 25, poured liquor onto the automobile’s interior. When the 46-year-old hack popped out of the vehicle in protest, the man allegedly punched him in the head and whacked him with a glass bottle, police said.
Detectives arrested Rascoe on Dec. 19 and charged him with felony assault.
Health club clash
Police say they arrested a 41-year-old man on Dec. 9, more than a month after he allegedly assaulted a co-worker.
According to police, the perpetrator argued with a 20-year-old man at the New York Health and Racquet Club, at 24 E. 13th St., on Wed., Nov. 5. The heated dispute then turned violent when the first man swung a pair of scissors at the victim. Having failed in his slashing attempt, the perpetrator grabbed a trash can and struck the victim on his left arm, which resulted in the victim getting stitches.
Eric Hunter, 41, was charged with felony assault.
He pissed off cop
A man apparently tried to play the hero for two people stopped in the Village by police for urinating in public. However, police dispute that he was offering any help.
The bizarre incident began at about 3:15 a.m. on Thurs., Dec. 18, when Maxwell Schoenfelder, 23, allegedly approached a police officer and demanded that the two people be released. Schoenfelder was not deterred by the officer’s refusal to do so, nor the officer’s order that he move on.
Police said Schoenfelder continued to disrupt the officer by attempting to yank the two purported public pee’ers away. The man then allegedly pulled and flailed his right hand away from the police officer as he was being placed under arrest.
Schoenfelder faces a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest.
— Lincoln Anderson and Zach Williams
