CRIME BLOTTER

DODES KA-DEN Some of that proverbial "fighting over a woman" erupted outside the Soul Cafe on W. 42nd about 4:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 13. You'd think it was enough that two people got stabbed by 26-year-old Darron Marcelle, but it wasn't. When Marcelle fled the scene, he was chased down by Robert Dickerson, also 26, who in turn stabbed Marcelle several times. The two police officers who arrived on the scene got hurt, too. All the stabbees were in stable condition, and both Dickerson and Marcelle are being charged with assault and weapons possession.

There was more slashing than stabbing afoot in Queens a few hours later, and with deadlier results. Michael Desiderio, 18, and his homeless friend, 18-year-old Ricardo Richardson, supposedly began arguing over a pillow as the two were preparing to crash after a night of partying.

Instead of just whomping Desiderio with the pillow, Richardson pointed a pellet gun at him. Desiderio then went out to his car and retrieved a three-foot-long samurai sword. (Whenever samurai swords enter the picture, you know there's going to be trouble.) Desiderio, as we know, returned to the house and hacked Richardson all to hell.

Described by one neighbor as a "bad egg," Desiderio was arrested a short time later about a mile away, in the home he shares with his grandfather.

The mayhem that followed the Puerto Rican Day Parade this past Sunday may not have been on a par with the mess a few years back, but things still took a nasty turn. A group of 20 parade-goers stormed into Famous Original Ray's at 88th and Lexington, tipping over the ice cream freezer, whacking an employee with a bottle and robbing the place before charging out again. They were arrested a few blocks away.

There was more related mayhem later, as police tried to break up a post-parade shindig in Sunset Park. How it started was unclear, but police eventually had to use mace, and 19 people were arrested. Partygoers are claiming police brutality and harassment.

And our Criminal of the Week, without question, is the Great Darius McCollum. The 39-year-old's unflagging monomania has made him a legendary figure in local news since 1981. McCollum doesn't kill, or rape, or steal. Well, some might say he steals. We prefer to think that he just borrows things. That he borrows subway trains and buses—and that he's done so more than 20 times—is what upsets people. Yet no matter how many times he's been arrested and locked up, he's always back at it as soon as he's out. He was nabbed most recently on Friday, June 11, when he was apparently about to take an LIRR train out for a spin.

Instead of charging him with attempted grand larceny, criminal impersonation, possession of stolen property, trespassing and possession of burglar tools—as is planned—we think it's about time the MTA just gave the guy a job. Clearly he knows what he's doing, and the MTA would finally have an employee who loves his work.