Sixties stabbing
At about 1:15 a.m. on Wed., Sept. 3, a 69-year-old man approached a 60-year-old regarding missing property. Soon they were arguing, leading to the second man swinging at the first with a weapon, stabbing him in the face, according to police, who did not specify what the property or weapon were.
The altercation at the northeast corner of LaGuardia Place and Bleecker St. left the victim with facial lacerations. Responding police recovered the weapon from Brigilio Sese and charged him with felony assault. Two additional victims, ages 36 and 51, were listed on a police report that did not describe their role in the incident or their gender.
Brief case
A man drinking from an open alcohol container found himself in bigger trouble soon after getting arrested at the southwest corner of Sixth Ave. and W. Fourth St. around 1 a.m. on Sat., Sept. 6. After a police officer apprehended the man for the alcohol, a search allegedly revealed six bags of marijuana on him, as well as a box cutter stashed in his underpants. Police charged Robert Knowles, 31, with criminal possession of a weapon.
W. 10th St. mugging
Two people attacked a woman, 26, who was walking westbound on W. 10th St. near the intersection of Greenwich and Christopher Sts. at about 3 a.m. on Tues., Aug. 30. They punched and pushed her to the ground, grabbed a black pocketbook from her right shoulder and ran northbound on Greenwich St. The victim suffered “substantial pain” and swelling to her face and left knee, police said.
A police canvass of the area with the victim led to the arrests of James Gillespie, 25, and Christopher Guzman, 20, who were charged with felony robbery.
Among the woman’s missing possessions were a bag, iPhone 5S, U.S. passport and debit card cumulatively valued at $900, plus $80 cash. None of it has been recovered, police said.
Subway strangler
On Tues., Sept. 9, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr., announced the trial conviction of Anthony White, 44, for the robbery and strangulation assault of six victims in Manhattan subway stations and surrounding areas in August 2011. The defendant was found guilty by a jury in New York State Supreme Court of all of the charges in the indictment: robbery in the first, second and third degrees and strangulation in the first and second degrees. White is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 13.
“The more than 5 million people who ride the subway every day in this city should not have to look over their shoulders for fear of being robbed,” said Vance. “Anthony White purposely selected victims whom he could easily overpower, including four men over the age of 70. He choked them from behind and violently robbed them, all in broad daylight. He now faces a lengthy prison sentence thanks to the sharp eyes of the N.Y.P.D. and the hard work of my office’s prosecutors.”
As proven at trial, at around 9 a.m. on Au. 13, 2011, White attacked a 71-year-old man on the platform of the N/R subway station at W. 28th St. and Broadway. White approached the victim from behind, choked him until he lost consciousness, and stole $150 from his pocket before fleeing. The victim suffered a stroke in the hours following the attack, and had to be hospitalized for about a month.
Over the next 13 days, White similarly attacked five other men, all between the ages of 38 and 85, choking them from behind and stealing their money and other personal items.
In one instance, on Aug. 16, 2011, White followed a 75-year-old man into a commercial building near the entrance of the W. 28th St. N/R station. The defendant entered the elevator behind the victim, choked him, and stole about $200 from his wallet.
Between Aug. 18, 2011, and Aug. 26, 2011, White attacked two more men in the same W. 28th St. station, as well as a 78-year-old man in the W. 23rd St. and Eighth Ave. A/C/E station, and an 85-year-old man in the W. 72nd St. and Central Park West A/B/C station.
The Aug. 26 attack at the 28th St. station was captured on surveillance camera. Three days later, an undercover Police Department Transit officer recognized White at the W. 28th St. station and arrested him.
According to the D.A.’s Office, White has been designated by the court as a “mandatory persistent violent predicate felon.” In 1987, he was convicted of second-degree robbery for strangling a man to the point of unconsciousness in the stairwell of a Manhattan subway station. Additionally, in 1992, White was sentenced to nine to 18 years in state prison after being convicted of first-degree manslaughter for choking a fellow inmate to death.
Fists fly at Raven
The dance floor at The Raven, a bar at 55 Gansevoort St., got a little crazy at about 2:20 a.m. on Sun., Aug. 31. According to police, a man identified as Guy Gubani grabbed a 34-year-old woman there, resulting in a confrontation with a 26-year-old man, police say. The grabber then reportedly hit the other man on the head with a champagne bottle. Then another man struck the victim with a closed fist, but he wasn’t done fighting yet.
Police arriving at the scene had trouble cuffing the second perpetrator, who was flailing his arms and kicking about. The 26-year-old man suffered swelling to his head and a laceration above his lip, according to a police report.
Gubani, 23, and Joshua Sharon, 23 were both charged with felony assault.
Bad bench business
At about 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 28 a man, 26, was sitting on a bench in Washington Square Park when he stood up to toss away some rubbish. When he returned to his seat, someone sitting on a nearby bench told him that an unknown man sitting on a bench had taken his backpack. The bag contained an Apple MacBook, an iPad and other possessions valued at a total of $3,320.
The victim walked over to the man who indeed had the backpack and was rummaging through it, police said. The perpetrator then returned the bag. However, the laptop was missing. After the victim brought over an officer, a search of the perpetrator’s bag recovered the laptop. Samir Ibrahim, 44, was charged with grand larceny.
— Zach Williams and Lincoln Anderson
