Arrest in E.V. slashing
Police last week made an arrest in a vicious slashing on Sat., Jan. 16, on E. Sixth St. that left a man with a gash from his ear to his mouth that required 150 stitches to close.
Last Thursday police announced that, pursuant to an investigation, Francis Salud, 28, had been arrested at 11:30 a.m. that day near a family member’s home at 89 E. Fourth St. and Second Ave. He was charged with assault.
On Jan. 16, at 4:30 p.m., Salud reportedly attacked Anthony Christian-Smith, a 30-year-old social worker from Newark, N.J. who was out for dinner with friends, slashing him as he walked on E. Sixth St. The incident reportedly occurred in front of 608 E. Sixth St.
Salud knocked the victim to the ground and cut him with an unknown object, police said. The victim suffered a large laceration to the right side of his face and a small laceration to his back.
The Daily News reported that Christian-Smith was in surgery for eight hours as doctors worked to save the nerves in his face.
Police called it a random attack.
Salud reportedly has a history of psychiatric illness and has previously been arrested on assault and weapon possession charges, according to police.
The Post reported that Salud was arrested in October for slashing a man in his left side in a courtyard at Bellevue over a fight over a cigarette. The victim in that case needed 73 stitches. Salud was released from jail on $30,000 bail after that attack.
The News reported that helping nail Salud was his own notation in a date book.
“Next to a date book reminder about a quibble over a Kmart or CVS card, he detailed that he ‘did a buck fifty on somebody near Third Ave. [ON E. 6TH ST.]…’ about 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, the prosecutor said,” the News wrote.
“A buck fifty” refers to the 150 stitches that the victim required.
“He actually made an entry in his own planner, that he had committed this crime,” Assistant District Attorney Gregory Sangermano said in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“He is a danger to quite literally anyone he happens to pass on the street,” Sangermano said.
Another slashing arrest
Damon Knowles, 21, was removed by detectives from the Police Department’s Manhattan Transit Robbery headquarters, at 34 E. 12th St., right, around 1 a.m. on Wed., Jan. 27.
Police said Knowles, of Brooklyn, randomly slashed Carmen Rivera, a 71-year-old Bronx grandmother of nine, on the face aboard a D train as it was nearing the Broadway-Lafayette St. station on Monday around 7:15 a.m. She needed 30 stitches to close the wound.
Knowles reportedly became a suspect after he was charged with criminal trespass and resisting arrest in a domestic incident on Tuesday, according to the Daily News. In connection with the subway assault, he was hit with two assault charges: intent to cause disfigurement and intent to cause serious physical injury.
Followed girl home
A 12-year-old girl had a scary encounter near Washington Square Park on Mon., Jan. 18. Police said the girl was walking home at around 12:30 p.m. when a man approached her and repeatedly asked, “Can you hide me?” and proceeded to follow her for several blocks as she walked to her apartment.
The man then entered her building and went into the elevator with her and said, “I just got out of jail, can you hide me in your apartment?”
The girl entered her apartment without the man and called police. After a canvass of the area, the police found the man on Broadway and E. 10th St. and the girl positively identified him.
Carl Catapano, 39, was arrested for felony stalking.
Poisson punch-up
Two men got into a knockdown brawl at Le Poisson Rouge on Sat., Jan. 23, police said. At 3:50 a.m., both men told officers they were at the live music venue at 158 Bleecker St. when they got into a fight with each other. One man stated he was thrown to the ground, causing a laceration to his head. The other man stated he was pushed and then punched in the face, causing a laceration to his mouth.
Joseph Weller, Jr., 24, and Alexi Segal, 23, were both arrested for misdemeanor assault.
Goes gonzo at Gonzalez
An employee at Gonzalez Y Gonzalez bar, at 192 Mercer Street, was threatened by a patron he had tried to kick out of the place, according to police. The victim repeatedly told a bar patron to leave on Sat., Jan. 23,.at around 12 a.m. The employee then continued working and went outside to throw salt on the sidewalk.
However, the man knowingly stayed at the location even though he was told to vamoose numerous times, police said. The man then waved a box cutter at the victim and urged him to come fight him, placing the victim in fear of serious physical injury. Police found the man in possession of two box cutters and a pair of metal knuckles.
Police arrested Watzen Villafane, 32, for misdemeanor menacing.
Packing in Meatpacking
A police officer observed a white Jeep run a red light and turn from Hudson St. onto Gansevoort St. on Fri., Jan. 15, at 2:45 a.m. The officer stopped the vehicle in front of 18 Ninth Ave. and found that one of the seven men inside of it was in possession of a loaded .40-caliber Sig Sauer pistol and plastic knuckles. Another occupant of the Jeep had an active warrant.
Henry Ogirri, 32, was arrested for felony criminal possession of a weapon.
Marijuana and open containers of alcohol were also found in the vehicle, for which the other passengers were issued criminal court summonses.
Loco for Four Loko
The Grab and Go convenience store at 388 Sixth Ave., between Eighth St. and Waverly Place, became the “Punch and Go” on Wed., Jan. 13, according to a police report.
At 1:35 a.m., a man entered the convenience store and stole four bottles of Four Loko malt liquor, valued at $15.40, police said. An employee told responding officers that when he tried to take back the stolen merchandise, the filcher punched him in the face, causing injury and pain. Police canvassed the area and found a man who fit the description given by the victim, who then identified the man at the station.
Police arrested Azariah Brundage, 24, for felony robbery.
Snack attack
Kids get angry when they don’t get their afternoon snack. A 13-year-old boy stole Doritos, Cheeze-Its and Sour Patch Kids from a newsstand on the northeast corner of W. Third St. and Sixth Ave. on Tues., Jan. 12, at 7:39 p.m., police said.
After stealing the snacks, the boy then reportedly threw a magazine at the newsstand vendor, causing a laceration to his lip. Police searched the area and found the boy, and the victim was able to identify him. Cops recovered the Doritos and Cheeze-Its. However, the two packs of Sour Patch Kids have not been located.
The 13-year-old was arrested for felony robbery. The Villager is not releasing his name because he is a minor.
Was it therapeutic?
After returning from therapy on Wed., Jan. 13, at 7 a.m., a mother and daughter got into a dispute, which led to a physical altercation, police said. Inside a residence at 463 West St., the daughter went into the bathroom and reportedly asked her mother, “What did you say to me?”
Police said the mother then pointed a sharp object at the daughter and they began pushing and shoving each other. The mother then put her hands around the daughter’s neck, causing obstruction of air and circulation. The older woman also grabbed her daughter’s left arm, causing a laceration to her arm and her left forehead, police said.
Miya Matthews was arrested for felony assault.
MacDougal meltdown
A man became verbally abusive to his girlfriend on a Village street on Sat., Jan. 15, at 5:35 a.m., and then assaulted a witness who tried to intervene, according to police.
Police said the victim witnessed the abuse on the northeast corner of MacDougal and W. Third Sts. and began arguing with the boyfriend. The boyfriend then punched the victim in the face, causing pain and discomfort.
Another man saw the altercation and attempted to break it up. The boyfriend then attempted to flee by jumping on top of a cab, but kicked in the back window, causing it to break.
Police arrested John Doe, 26, for misdemeanor criminal mischief.
Emily Siegel
and Lincoln Anderson
