Police arrested a pair of men who were both found with guns after they jumped the subway turnstiles in two separate incidents Sunday in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
In the first arrest, 32-year-old Jose Aponte, was stopped when police saw him jump the turnstile and try to get on a northbound No. 4 train at the East 59th Street station just after midnight, the NYPD said.
The uniformed officers, Justin Thornton and David Simon, caught up with Aponte on the platform and realized he’d done it before. When they took Ponte into custody, they found he had a loaded .380 caliber automatic gun, which he had triple-bagged along with a gray rubber glove, police said.
Aponte was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, theft of services, and criminal trespass. He has several prior arrests, including burglary, assault and criminal sale of a firearm.
About three hours later a second pair of plainclothes officers arrested 40-year-old Coleman Reader when they saw him step over the turnstile at the Nostrand Avenue station in Bedford Stuyvesant without paying, police said.
Sergeant Steven Rosado and Officer Nicholas Zummo quickly stopped Reader and realized this wasn’t the first time he’d jumped the turnstile. Police found the loaded revolver near Reader’s crotch with four rounds.
Reader, who cooperated and was very “calm cool and collected,” has 48 prior unsealed arrests, including one robbery charge and several other drug-related offenses, a law enforcement official said. He was charged Sunday with criminal possession of a weapon and theft of services.
Both Aponte and Reader were awaiting arraignment on Sunday and could not be reached for comment.
