‘Happy May Day’
Envelopes of apparently harmless white powder with threatening notes arrived in the mail on Mon., April 30, at seven Manhattan locations, including 100 Gold St. where Mayor Bloomberg’s mail is processed before it gets to City Hall, police said. Some of the notes, addressed to various banks, read, “This is a reminder that you are not in control. Just in case you needed some incentive to stop working — Happy May Day.” Police conjectured that the envelopes were part of the Occupy Wall Street May Day demonstration. But an O.W.S. press team member said he didn’t think anything like that had been planned for the demonstration.
Precinct inside job
Police are investigating the theft of four 9-millimeter handguns, plus cash, jewelry, two bulletproof vests and an iPad, from lockers in the Ninth Precinct police station on E. Fifth St.
The series of thefts, under investigation by the Internal Affairs Bureau since first reported in February, include the latest one on April 21, according to a New York Post article. The lockers, on the station’s top floor, have ineffective combination locks. The lockers pop open when someone bangs on them and can be slammed shut, leaving no trace of forced entry, an informant told the Post. About 180 people work in the station at 351 E. Fifth St., including New York Police Department civilian employees.
Fell in street, killed
A pedestrian trying to cross Sixth Ave. from west to east at Watts St. around 4:30 a.m. Sun., April 29, fell and was struck by a cab and killed. The driver remained at the scene and was not charged. The victim, Dan Fellegara, 29, of Baltimore, was declared dead on arrival at New York Downtown Hospital, police said.
F.D.R. Drive crash
A motorcycle-car crash on the F.D.R. Drive at Gouverneur Slip at 10 a.m. Tues., April 24, injured the biker, who was taken to Bellevue Hospital with serious but not life-threatening injuries, police said.
Bribery and wreckage
Jesse Louis, 31, was stopped for reckless driving at Sixth Ave. and Watts St. around 4:35 a.m. Sun., April 22, got out of his car in the middle of the street and tried to flee arresting officers, according to a complaint filed with the Manhattan district attorney. The suspect fought with officers when they put him in the patrol car, tore off a side-view mirror and broke the turn-signal handle on the patrol car’s steering column. He later offered officers $10,000 to let him go without charges.
D.W.I. cop crash
Sergio Carillo, 31, an off-duty police officer, was arrested at 4:30 a.m. Sun., April 29, for drunk driving after he was involved in a crash on Second Ave and E. 11th St., police said. Carillo, a member of the N.Y.P.D. since 2005, was suspended from his assignment at the Seventh Precinct on the Lower East Side.
Didn’t get far
Police arrested Philip Rice, 25, in the foyer of 81 Chrystie St. on Wed., April 25, and charged him with stealing a TV set from a fifth-floor room of the World Hotel, at 101 Bowery between Hester and Grand Sts., around the corner from the Chrystie St. location. He was standing next to the stolen TV when he was arrested, according to the complaint.
Who knocked the ‘Nok’?
Corice Arman, the widow of the late Tribeca sculptor Arman, filed a civil suit for $300,0090 in Manhattan on April 23 charging that a photographer for Art + Auction magazine dropped and smashed her terra cotta Nigerian “Nok” figurine, estimated to date from 618 B.C. The accident happened in May last year when the magazine was working on a photo spread of the sculptor’s collection, according to an article in the New York Post. The president of Art + Auction, Ben Hartley, told the Post that the company was not liable for the loss and that the photographer had said that no one was near the figurine when it fell.
Jewelry grab
A thief who entered Lunessa, the jewelers at 100 Thompson St., sometime between 10:55 a.m. and 7:45 p.m. Sat., April 28, made off with a bracelet and four rings with a total value of $4,995, police said.
Wrenching incident
Police were called about a fight on the northeast corner of Grove St. and Seventh Ave. South shortly after midnight on Wed., April 25, and found a man with a cut over his eye who accused a longtime adversary of hitting him with a monkey wrench. Police arrested Eduardo Pabon, 24, who refused to be handcuffed and fled after punching one of the officers. The officers caught him, subdued him with pepper spray and charged him assault.
Subway snatcher
Police arrested Evans Whittaker, 23, as he was fleeing from the Canal St. subway station at 7:20 a.m. Wed., April 25, after snatching an iPad from the hand of a woman passenger on a southbound No. 1 train. The arresting officers happened to be in the next car, heard the victim yell, and caught the suspect just outside the station.
Fake check
Police arrested Morgan Tashawna, 17, at the MPD diner, 73 Gansevoort St., around 7:22 p.m. Mon., April 23, and charged her with larceny and using a false instrument for using a fake $100 traveler’s check.
Sticky situation
Hunter Schipman, 21, was charged with criminal mischief at 1:28 p.m. Thurs., April 26, for sticking yellow handbills with red lettering proclaiming “Unity May Day” on mailboxes, street signs and phone booths around the Cable Building, at 611 Broadway at Houston St.
Forged passport
A Bank of America teller at 36 E. 14th St. called police when a woman, Addisi Adenusi, 24, tried to use a forged United Kingdom passport as ID to cash a check.
Bad customer
A waitress at Mojo Coffee, 128 Charles St., told police that she put her handbag with her wallet with $100 in cash on the counter while she was bussing a location around 12:45 p.m. Thurs., April 19, when a customer picked it up, stuffed it into his pants and left. The theft was taped on a surveillance camera, and police arrested Alexander Oppenheimer, 51, six days later.
They took Religiously
Six men between the ages of 25 and 30 walked into the True Religion boutique at 132 Prince St. around 7:15 p.m. Fri., April 27, and stuffed 32 pairs of jeans, four denim jackets and nine pairs of shorts, with a total value of $10,851, into shopping bags and walked out without paying for them.
Albert Amateau
