Volume 74, Number 28 | November 17 – 22, 2004
Police Blotter
Trees amid the traffic
Trees are being installed at the new Canal Street Park at the west end of Canal St. by the West Side Highway. The triangle was a park in 1870, but the park disappeared in the 1920s during construction of the Holland Tunnel. Tribeca and Hudson Sq. residents fought to have the site, which had become a parking spot for Sanitation garbage trucks, restored as a green space. It will open in the spring.
Can assault on Avenue A
Ninth Police Precinct detectives are looking for the man in the black shirt in these photos, who during an altercation on Sept. 26 at the corner of Avenue A and Seventh St. threw a garbage can onto a man, seriously injuring him. The victim, reportedly named John Coyle, is said to have been a friend of Daniel Rakowitz, who was found not guilty by reason of insanity of killing his girlfriend in 1989 and feeding soup made from her boiled bones to the Tompkins Sq. homeless. Rakowitz continues to be held in a secure psychiatric facility. Rakowitz was known to be into devil worship. Coyle has a profane Satanic tattoo on his belly.
Chelsea fatal
A flatbed truck hauling steel beams and hydraulic equipment struck and killed an 80-year-old retired nun at W. 23rd St. at Sixth Ave. at 10:35 a.m. Mon., Nov. 15, police said. Katherine Lee, a Maryknoll Sister who walked with the aid of a cane, was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck by the truck. The driver was unaware of the accident until he heard the horrified screams of witnesses, police said.
The westbound truck, owned by Ment Bros. Iron Works, of 150 W. 22nd St., was turning north onto Sixth Ave. when it hit the victim and ran over her. The driver, who stopped about 50 feet from the spot, was taken to Bellevue in near shock after the accident, according to a Daily News report. Police said there was no criminality involved and no summons was issued.
Lee formerly worked at the Church of the Transfiguration School on Mott St. and still attended Mass at the church.
On July 29, 2002, a woman was killed by a garbage truck making a turn at the same intersection, according to a New York Times report.
Crash victim dies
The pregnant woman hit by an out-of-control S.U.V. that jumped a curb and ploughed into a group of mourners in front of St. Theresa’s Church at Rutgers and Henry Sts. on Oct. 28 died of her injuries in Bellevue Hospital on Fri., Nov. 5. The woman, Zheng Bi Xian, 34, was crossing the street when the vehicle went out of control and struck her before jumping the curb. Her 5-month-old fetus died Nov. 3. Three other people sustained minor injuries. The driver, who fled the scene but went later to the Fifth Police Precinct, said he accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake. He was not charged.
Panhandler dies
The Village panhandler who was pushed to the ground and struck his head after accosting three women and a man on Seventh Ave. S. during the early hours of Oct. 31 died in St. Vincent’s Hospital on Nov. 7 after being on life support for a week, police said.
The victim, José Cantue, 61, had been a fixture in the Village for about 20 years, begging in the vicinity of Bleecker St. between Seventh Ave. S. and Sixth Ave. Police gave his address as 316 Bleecker St.
Police are seeking a white man, about 25, weighing about 190 pounds and wearing a green shirt and blue jeans at the time of the incident. Cantue, who was known under various aliases, was reported to have gotten up soon after being pushed to the pavement but soon lost consciousness and was being sustained on a respirator when he died, according to police.
Plaid club stabbing
A dispute between two groups of men at Plaid, a nightclub at 76 E. 13th St., shortly after 4 a.m. Sat., Nov. 13, ended when unidentified suspects stabbed four victims, who were taken to Bellevue and St. Vincent’s Hospitals, police said.
The victims, all from Washington Heights, said the club was too dark to identify the suspects with whom they got into a pushing match, police said. Herman Santa, 22, was taken to Bellevue in fair condition. Israel Lugo, 22, was admitted to St. Vincent’s Hospital, and the two other victims, Freddy Alvarez, 23, and Alexander Santos, 22, were treated at St. Vincent’s and released.
Hudson floater
Harbor Patrol police retrieved the body of an unidentified woman floating in the Hudson River off the Village waterfront on Sunday morning, Nov. 14, police said.
Identity Theft Unit
Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau announced on Nov. 9 the formation of an Identity Theft Unit to coordinate the prosecution of identity theft, a crime that is increasing. The unit will focus on the growing number of sophisticated criminal groups that steal and use personal identification information. Prosecutors from the unit will also be available to speak to community groups about identity theft.
The Federal Trade Commission said that New York State ranks third in the nation in the number of identity theft victims, according to Morgenthau’s office. Cases include schemes to use personal information to create counterfeit IDs and people who use counterfeit credit cards with matching identification at expensive restaurants and stores. In some cases, a store or restaurant employee uses a credit card reader to get a customer’s credit card information, downloads it on a computer and encodes it onto a counterfeit copy of a card.
Victims of identity theft are urged to phone the new hotline, 212-335-9600. Community groups that want speakers on identity theft from the district attorney’s office may phone 212-335-9082.
