Wheelchair assault
A man was arrested early on Dec. 3 after police said he viciously attacked a disabled man in the West Village.
Following a dispute, around 2:15 a.m., Hector Torres, 31, punched his 50-year-old victim — who uses a wheelchair — in the face while the two were on the corner of W. Fourth St. and Sixth Ave, police said. Torres then allegedly pushed the other man out of his wheelchair and began kicking him repeatedly in the body and legs while he was on the ground. The victim refused medical treatment, but police said he was in severe pain and suffered injuries to his face.
Torres was charged with assault.
Another gun off the street
Two men were arrested for carrying an illegal gun and loads of ammunition in their truck on Fri., Nov. 30, after they were pulled over for a simple traffic stop in the South Village.
Andres Richard, 37, and Juan Severino, 53, were driving a Mitsubishi box truck past the corner of Bedford St. and Seventh Ave. South when they were stopped around 2 p.m. for a busted taillight, police said. When cops searched the truck, they found a Glock 9-millimeter handgun packed with a large-capacity, 30-round magazine, as well as a clear plastic bag that held another 50 rounds.
That was enough to charge the two men with criminal possession of a weapon, but cops said they also found a small bag of alleged cocaine under the truck’s passenger-side seat.
Meatpacking muggers
A couple of officers with good timing thwarted two robbers who were roughing up a man in the Meatpacking District early on Nov. 30.
The suspects got into the face of a 25-year-old man on the corner of W. 13th St. and Ninth Ave. around 3:30 a.m., police said, and were trying to forcibly take his cell phone and wallet, while threatening to do more serious damage if he didn’t give them up. But before they could finish the job, the toughs were interrupted by a couple of Sixth Precinct officers out on their beat, and were both charged with attempted robbery. The charges were later dismissed.
Bistro burglar at large
Police are searching for a brick-wielding burglar who they say is responsible for breaking into six West Village businesses — five of them restaurants — over the past several weeks.
The unidentified male committed the burglaries by smashing through storefront glass overnight before quickly making off with cash or property, mostly by using a brick but also several times simply by kicking the glass in, police said.
The burglar’s first stop was on Nov. 12, at the Grand Sichuan Restaurant, on Seventh Ave. South near St. Luke’s Place, where he stole around $200, police said.
Following that, he hit three establishments on Nov. 20. First was Barrio 47, a restaurant on Eighth Ave. near W. Fourth St., where he took $200; next was Saturdays Surf NYC, a clothing store on Perry St. near Waverly Place, where he took $250; and after that was Leyla, a restaurant on Seventh Ave. South near Barrow St., where he stole an entire cash register containing $200, as well as an iPod, police said.
On Nov. 25, the burglar broke into Moustache, a restaurant on Bedford St. near Grove St, and stole $70; and then on Nov. 28 he struck at Diablo Royale restaurant, on W. 10th St. at W. Fourth St., where he made off with $1,600 and three iPods.
Most of the burglarized locations have surveillance cameras that captured the man’s image, but police are still struggling to pin him down. The suspect is described as 28 to 32 years old, and weighing 225 to 275 pounds with a large build.
Parking pushes passions
A dispute over a parking spot near Union Square on Nov. 27 escalated into a shouting match, then a spitting match, and ended up with a man being arrested for threatening to smash his adversary’s head in with a baseball bat.
The war of words began around 7:30 p.m. on W. 14th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves., as the two drivers locked horns over who was taking the spot, police said. Things got heated when Kwan Johnson, 24, got out of his car, walked up to the window of the other driver, a 22-year-old man, and began berating him further.
At that point, one of the 22-year-old’s passengers, a 19-year-old woman, tried to tell Johnson off and make him go away. But Johnson responded by spitting in the woman’s face, police said. This nearly pushed the other driver over the edge, and he then yelled at Johnson, “That’s not right, you don’t do that to a woman,” according to the police report.
This, in turn, pushed Johnson over the edge; he then walked back to his car, pulled a wooden Louisville Slugger bat out of the trunk, and pointed it at the 22-year-old’s face, saying, “I will f— you up,” according to police.
After police responded to the commotion and heard what happened, they charged Johnson with menacing.
Sam Spokony
