East Side Crime Watch
Assault with a Tasty Weapon While sitting in a bar innocently sharing drinks with friends late on a Saturday night, a woman was suddenly beaned with a plastic condiment holder. The victim and her friend said an unknown man threw the container in her direction and fled the scene. The bar's manager said that the man might have been a member of a party going on that night, but could not identify him.
Valiant Citizen Nabs Purse Snatcher A woman was walking on East 73rd Street around 10 p.m. when a man came toward her, throwing his shoulder into hers to knock her off balance and swipe her pocketbook. The thief ran for the hills but didn't get very far, as an ordinary citizen grabbed and held the suspect until police arrived to make an arrest. The stolen bag was returned to its rightful owner.
Street Vendors Victimized A man reported his $800 Honda generator stolen from his hot dog cart parked on Lexington Avenue. On Second Avenue, a man left the counter of his newsstand when two women in front of it distracted him, he said. While his back was turned, a man crept behind the register and removed two cash drawers, making off with $2,300.
Old-Fashioned Smash-and-Grab In what police have identified as a citywide pattern after a similar incident downtown, a 6-foot-tall man wearing a white or tan jacket smashed the storefront window of a Madison Avenue boutique with a cobblestone early last Wednesday morning. He took 16 leather jackets and three T-shirts, at a total value of $16,995, then got away. The cost of replacing the plate-glass window, according to the store, is $3,000.
Unsuspecting New Englander Robbed A woman from Massachusetts parked her car on East 76th Street last Wednesday, not realizing until later that she may have left it unlocked. When she returned to check, there was not a scratch on the vehicle but her $100 GPS system was missing from the dashboard and a $300 laptop was gone from the trunk.
No Harmony forAssaulted DJ A DJ was loading his equipment into a nightclub around 10:30 p.m. last Sunday when he asked an unknown man to remove his belongings that were in the way. The man responded by punching the unsuspecting DJ in the arm and back, then fleeing the scene.
Man Indicted forUpper East Side Burglaries Luis Torres, 50, was indicted last week for a string of burglaries targeting homes on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and in Midtown. Police discovered large quantities of jewelry and electronics, as well as over 100 keys and cards, in Torres' apartment upon his arrest. Torres is charged with three counts of burglary in the second degree.
Hotel Thief Admits to High-End Heists After admitting to stealing cash, jewelry, accessories and electronics from guests at Jumeirah Essex House, the Plaza Hotel, St. Regis Hotel and the London NYC Hotel, James Bennett, 45, pleaded guilty to four counts of burglary in the second degree and one count of grand larceny in the second degree last week. He confessed to attempting to steal employees' paychecks from the London NYC Hotel before being spotted, then later that day swiping goods from the Plaza and St. Regis. He had previously stolen a Chopard watch and Cartier sunglasses from Jumeirah Essex House.
"Burglary victims lose more than their money, valuables and prized possessions-they also lose their sense of security in their own homes," said District Attorney Cyrus Vance in a statement. "Thanks to excellent police work and aggressive prosecution, offenders who prey upon New Yorkers are taken off the streets."