Volume 74, Number 34 | December 29 – January 04, 2004
Police Blotter
Dogs shocked
Stray voltage from a Con Edison service box on W. 17th St. between Seventh and Eighth Aves. in Chelsea shocked and injured two dogs on Thursday morning Dec. 23, according to a Con Edison spokesperson. The incident occurred in front of 230 W. 17th St., said Chris Olert, the spokesperson. Con Edison was notified a few hours later and sent a crew to correct the situation, Olert said. The owner of the dogs told Con Edison that he took the animals to a veterinary hospital for treatment.
East Village arrest
An argument between two men on the corner of Avenue A and E. Seventh St. at about 9 p.m. Thurs. Dec. 23 became violent when one of them knocked down his adversary’s motorcycle and began fighting with officers who responded to the incident, according to police at the Ninth Precinct. Mark Serrano, 48, was charged with resisting arrest.
John Penley said he was walking to Ray’s Candy Store to buy a cup of coffee when he witnessed a group of officers catch the man on the corner, then take him down by hitting him on his legs and back with their nightsticks.
“It was a well-dressed, light-skinned black man,” Penley said. “There were about 10 cops on top of him. To their credit they didn’t hit him in the head.”
Home for Christmas
Harry Theodore, 70, who lived for the last few years with his five dogs in a vacant former lumber yard on W. 36 St. between 10th and 11th Aves., was able to move into a real home on Dec. 23, thanks to the efforts of police at the 10th Precinct.
Sgt. Robert Delaney, supervisor of the community policing patrol in the neighborhood, said that Harry was a familiar and friendly guy who had built a shack in the rear of the yard surrounded by a chain-link fence. “But about a year ago his dogs got out and one of them bit another dog. It became a dangerous situation,” Delaney said.
Then the manager of the property came to the precinct and said he wanted the shack, Harry and the dogs off the property.
“Capt. [Dennis] DeQuatro didn’t want this to be an arrest situation and we didn’t want to have to take the dogs to Animal Control, so we went to Social Services to find an apartment for Harry,” Delaney said. “We asked him what he was going to do with the dogs and he said he’d give them away,” Delaney added.
Last week, the Department of Social Services was able to find an apartment in the Bronx for Harry. “It worked out perfectly,” Delaney said. “He took two of the dogs with him and he found homes for the rest of them. He left on Dec. 23,” Delaney added.