Group attack on man in bar
Police arrested a man on Sat. at a Soho karaoke bar and restaurant for what is being called a gang assault, after he and three or four others attacked another bar patron, police said.
The victim, a 24-year-old Asian man from Connecticut was inside Biny, a karaoke bar at 8 Thomas St., with a few friends on Sat., May 25, according to police. The victim said that as he attempted to leave the bar at about 1:10 a.m., he was approached by four or five Asian men, who began to punch and kick him in the head and face for no apparent reason. He said that the men were strangers and that he hadn’t had any verbal confrontation with them prior to the attack. The victim sustained lacerations, bruising and swelling to his head and face, police said. The victim’s friends detained one of the men until police arrived.
Huan Liang, 27, was arrested and charged with assault, police said.
3 thefts on 4 train
Transit theft was on the rise in the past week as several people reported having belongings stolen while on the 4 train, according to police.
One woman told police that she was pickpocketed by a fellow passenger at the Fulton St. station. The woman, 24, stated that she had boarded a northbound 4 train with her boyfriend on Sun., May 26 at about 3 p.m. At the Fulton St. station, she felt someone bump her on her right side, she said, and when she turned to look, found that her pink and tan Coach wallet was missing from her pocket. The wallet contained her credit cards, Virginia driver’s license, Macy’s work ID, $65 in Macy’s gift cards, a $20 Starbucks gift card, $15 in cash and her health insurance cards.
She turned to the woman on her right and asked if the woman had taken her wallet. Police said that the woman became “irate and boisterous” and began to curse at the victim and tell her, “I’m, going to teach you a lesson.” The victim said she felt threatened and got off the train at the next station to report the theft to police.
Police are seeking a 55-year-old woman with dreadlocks in connection with the crime.
Another woman had her cell phone snatched on the 4 train last week, police said. The victim, 29, stated that she boarded a southbound 4 train at the Fulton St. station on Fri., May 24, in the middle of the train. At about 3:40 p.m., she said the train rolled into the Wall St. stop, and she took a seat and pulled out her iPhone 4.
As the doors were about to close, she said that a teenager in a red jacket who was on the train with her grabbed her phone from her hand and ran out onto the platform. The woman also jumped off the train and chased the young man through the station, to the northbound platform and out of the northbound exit at Broadway and Wall St. He managed to get away, and a police canvass of the area turned up no results. The “Find My Phone” app was not usable because the phone had been turned off.
A third theft reported last week actually took place in March but was not reported because the victim said she did not realize anything important was taken.
She was mistaken, it turns out, because one of the items stolen was her Barbados passport and an attached letter from the embassy. At the first interview, she told police that the passport was taken from her purse by an unknown thief while she was on the northbound 4 train on Mon., March 4. She was reinterviewed and stated that she was on the 4 at about 9 p.m., when it pulled into the Fulton St. station. A young man, between the ages of 18 and 25, snatched the bag from her lap and got off the train before the doors closed. She said in addition to her passport, she also lost a $50 handbag, $60 in cash and toiletries.
She said she reported the theft on May 23 because found out that she needed to file a police report in order to replace her passport.
Bag stolen from Pizza parlor
A man visiting from Australia had a pricier tab for his New York pizza than he expected after a thief walked off with a bag containing $2,476 in merchandise.
The victim, 32, told police he was visiting the Famous Ben’s Pizza of Soho at 177 Spring St. with his family at about 3:45 p.m. on Sat., May 25. He set the bag down by his chair while they were eating, and when they had finished, at about 4:15 p.m., he noticed that the bag was missing. He said that the restaurant was very crowded and that he did not notice anyone suspicious. According to police, he could not cancel his credit card, or see if there was unauthorized usage on it because it was international. A canvass for the property turned up no results.
Along with his credit cards, the man also reported losing a Chloé handbag worth $650; a Nikon D7000 camera and lens worth $1,400; a $76 blouse; a $36 jersey, a pair of $56 trousers; a $108 cardigan; and a $150 wallet.
Water Taxi collides with dock, injures two
New York Water Taxi is investigating the cause of a hard landing at a Battery Park pier Thursday, May 16 that reportedly caused minor injuries to two passengers.
A spokesperson from Water Taxi said in a statement that all passengers walked off the ferry, which left the dock under it’s own power. A father and daughter were hurt when the boat struck Pier A, reported DNAinfo. The father, 47, was treated for a minor scratch on his elbow and his 23-year-old daughter complained of knee pain but had also recently undergone knee surgery, the story said, and both were treated at the scene.
The spokesperson said that the captain had alerted crew and passengers about the possibility of a hard docking. The company is working with the Coast Guard to determine the cause.
–Kaitlyn Meade
