Dog salon rape
An employee of Biscuits and Bath, a dog salon at 41 W. 13th St., was charged with the first-degree rape of a woman colleague in the workplace around 2:30 a.m. Sat., May 26. The suspect, Vincent Lopez, 21, punched the victim, also 21, when she tried to push him away, and then took off her clothes and raped her, according to the criminal complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney. The establishment offers 24-hour care for dogs but is closed to the public after 8 p.m.
BMW driver injures singer
A BMW in a drag race on Broadway struck a cab at Bleecker St. around 12:50 a.m. Wed., May 30, seriously injuring Tash Neal, 26, the singer in The London Souls group, plus a fellow passenger and the cab driver, according to a New York Post item. All three were taken to Bellevue Medical Center, where Neal had surgery for serious head trauma. Witnesses tried to stop the BMW driver, but he sped away in another car believed to have been in the race.
Bloody knife fight
Two men who stabbed each other around 8:30 p.m. Mon., June 4, in East River Park near E. Eighth St. and F.D.R. Drive were arrested within an hour and charged with assault. One suspect was arrested shortly after the incident and the other, who fled leaving a trail of blood, was apprehended shortly after 9 p.m. on Avenue C at E. Fourth St. Deputy Inspector John Cappelmann, Ninth Precinct commanding officer, said the two acquaintances, both in their 50s, stabbed each other during a dispute.
Village assaults
Police arrested Eric Smith, 20, and Joseph Griffin, 22, around 8:50 p.m. Wed., May 30, for attacking a victim, 20, in Hudson River Park at Pier 45 (Christopher St. Pier). They grabbed the victim by the hair, punched him and threw him to the pavement, police said.
A 28-year-old woman, Karima Gregory, was arrested around 1:02 a.m. Fri., June1, in front of 250 W. 14th St. for biting the finger of a man, 52, and then punching him in the face.
L.E.S. man shot dead
Abdul Garcia Jr., 24, who recently moved from the Lower East Side to the Bronx, was shot to death around 6:40 p.m. Sun., June 3, a few blocks from his home in the Morrisania neighborhood, police said. The victim, known as Junior, was shot five times in the head and the back. He had a handgun in his rear pocket, according to a Daily News item. Garcia, who moved to the Bronx to live with his girlfriend, his son and stepson, had a long record of arrests.
MacDougal marijuana
Police stopped Nicholas Smith, 21, around 3 a.m. Fri., June 1, in front of 133 MacDougal St. for carrying a glass vial of marijuana in plain sight. Smith was also charged with resisting arrest when he pushed the arresting officer away and tried to avoid being handcuffed.
High-volume arrest
Police were called to Ninth Ave. at W. 13th St. at 2:30 a.m. Sun., June 3, because a van with a sound amplifier at high volume was in the middle of the street blocking traffic and attracting a large crowd. Timothy Monkiewicz, 33, the driver, was charged with reckless endangerment.
Rude awakening
A man, 42, who fell asleep outside the 55 Bar, at 55 Christopher St., in the early hours of Thurs., May 31, was awakened at 2:35 a.m. to find two strangers going through his pockets and taking his wallet. The thieves fled, but police arrested Moses Blanchard, 18, and his 16-year-old accomplice.
BB gun busts
A boy, 14, and his 15-year-old cousin were arrested in the second-floor apartment of the younger suspect across from P.S. 2, 122 Henry St., after the school custodian, Cleveland Williams, 34, was hit in the right leg with a BB pellet around 1 p.m. Wed., May 23.
Police spotted a BB rifle on a living room table when the younger boy opened the door. Police also found a second rifle, nunchucks (a martial arts weapon), knives and a dart blowgun in the apartment, according to reports.
The school principal, Brett Gustafson, told the Post that police were called to the school three times in the past eight weeks for similar incidents.
On Tues., May 29, a 19-year-old victim was hit in the back by a BB pellet while riding his bicycle near Campos Plaza at E. 12th St. and Avenue C. Police are investigating but there were no arrests in that incident.
Parking spot fight
Dawnelle Yager, 42, was arrested around 11:43 a.m. Thurs., May 24, and charged with assault and harassment after a fight over a curbside parking place in front of 108 Christopher St. The complaint says that Yager punched the other driver, Meng Dong, 29, of Queens, in the chest and hit him with her umbrella. Yager was identified in a New York Post item as a jeweler formerly from Los Angeles with a celebrity clientele. She runs Soixante Neuf Boutique, at 225 W. 10th St.
Tavern mayhem
Richard Ciacci, 27, was arrested around 10:52 p.m. Thurs., May 24, outside the Village Tavern, 46 Bedford St. at the corner of Leroy St. and Seventh Ave. South, for breaking the place’s front window.
Murder sentence
Joseph Pabon, convicted on April 12 of second-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the July 2009 death of Eridiana Rodriguez, a fellow employee in the office building at 2 Rector St., was sentenced on Tues., June 5, to 25 years to life in prison. Pabon, an elevator operator in the building, was 27 on July 7, 2009, when he grabbed the victim, 46, who was married with three grown children, bound her hands and feet and taped her mouth so tightly that she suffocated according to the charges. Her body, which he had stuffed in an air duct, was discovered four days later.
Indict Chinatown bank
A federal grand jury on Thurs., May 31, indicted Abacus Federal Savings Bank, with headquarters at 6 Bowery, and 11 of its former employees, with conspiracy and fraud in connection with the sale of loans to the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fanny Mae”) between May 2005 and February 2010.
Abacus officials claimed in a statement that the bank was the only victim in the fraud and cooperated in the investigation.
“We do not understand why our community bank was the only one targeted for prosecution while many other banks that contributed to the national economic crisis remain untouched,” the statement said.
Bridge fatal leap
Jonathan Tripp, 31, a Chrystie St. resident, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge on Sun., June 3, during a charity bicycle ride, according to a New York Post item. Tripp, the fourth suicide from the bridge in the past two weeks, left a white peony blossom and a note written on a brown paper bag before he died, the Post said.
— Albert Amateau
