Missing L.E.S. man
The New York Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a Lower East Side man who has been missing for two weeks.
Jason Diaz, 40, pictured above, was last seen Thurs., Nov. 1, around 3 a.m., as he was leaving his home at 91 Pitt St., police said. Diaz was wearing a brown jacket, gray pants and black-and-blue sneakers.
Anyone with information about this is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting them to 274637 (CRIMES) and entering TIP577.
Drive-by punch mayhem
Police slapped two assault charges on a thug who punched a man in the face, and then injured the victim’s girlfriend while brazenly trying to flee the scene.
Witnesses said they saw Anthony Kareem, 26, pull his car over to the curb on Broadway, between Waverly Place and E. Eighth St., around 11 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 9. Then, Kareem allegedly stepped out of the vehicle, walked up to a 29-year-old man and socked him in the jaw.
When officers responded to the commotion minutes later, they spotted Kareem getting back into his car attempting to get away. But the victim’s 37-year-old girlfriend jumped into the car’s passenger seat to try to stop the assailant, and he kept driving even though the door was still open. Kareem then stopped the car and threw the woman to the ground, police said, leaving her with cuts to her chin and a swollen lip.
Police called for paramedics and rushed the woman to Beth Israel Hospital for treatment — that is, after they collared Kareem to end his heinous night out.
Meatpacking rez rage
An argument between two residents outside their Meatpacking District apartment building on Tues., Nov. 6, led to a bloody nose for one, and handcuffs for the other.
The victim, a 59-year-old man, told police that he was about to walk into 22 Ninth Ave., “The Triangle Building,” around 4 p.m. when his neighbor Farshad Shahrokhi, 45, approached him and started a verbal dispute. Before long, a few too many words were spewed, and Shahrokhi allegedly head-butted the other man in the face, injuring his nose.
Fire Department E.M.S. personnel arrived on the scene to treat the man’s injured nose, after he reported the incident, and cops picked up Shahrokhi shortly afterward, after canvassing the area. He was charged with assault.
Bogus credit card bust
A young couple probably thought they had it made when they racked up a $700 tab at a Greenwich Village hookah bar and paid with a credit card that didn’t belong to them — but their romp went up in smoke.
Rosmark Palen and Ashley Powell, both 23, were about to leave Falucka, at 162 Bleecker St., shortly after midnight on Sat., Nov. 10, when they handed the credit card over to the bartender, police said. But before they could walk out, Palen got into a fight with a 40-year-old man and punched him in the face.
The two crooks tried fleeing the scene, but they were stopped about a block away by officers who were responding to the commotion in the bar. Soon after that, the bartender showed the officers the bogus credit card and both suspects were booked for criminal possession of a forged instrument. Palen was also arrested for assault.
Drugs and phone theft
Two phone thieves were busted early on Sat., Nov. 10, after police caught them puffing a joint on the street near Washington Square Park.
Edward Aponte, 21, and David Miano, 25, were standing near the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Sts. around 4 a.m. when they were rudely interrupted halfway through their marijuana cigarette by a couple of Sixth Precinct officers. While the two men were being patted down, the officers found a cell phone in Aponte’s pocket, which they soon discovered was recently reported as stolen. Police then identified Aponte and Miano as the actual thieves in question, based on the descriptions in the previous report.
On top of that, the officers also reportedly found two bags of cocaine in Miano’s pocket. Along with the drug charges, both men were charged with grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
Sam Spokony
