Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Brawl HaulAn Upper East Side man was arrested following an early morning bar fight. At 1:11 a.m. on Friday, May 12, a 33-year-old Massachusetts man was talking with a 51-year-old Upper East Side man inside Ethyl’s Alcohol and Food at 1629 Second Ave. The older man became agitated and pushed the younger man, who pushed back. A bar employee then stepped in, and the older man struck him in the head with a glass bottle and then threw a glass at him. Security intervened and removed the aggressor from the bar. Police arrived and arrested the man, who apparently was intoxicated, charging him with an assault 2 felony.

Going from Bad to PursePolice arrested a multiple purse snatcher. At 11:22 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10, a plainclothes officer saw a 25-year-old man enter the Starbucks location at 1488 Third Ave. and take a woman’s purse from a table. The officer pursued the purse snatcher, eventually catching up with him at 84th Street and Second Avenue. The thief, though, resisted. At that point another person approached the officer and said that the same purse snatcher had been involved in another incident a few minutes before, attempting to grab a purse from a 52-year-old woman outside 252 East 84th Street. The thief was charged with grand larceny, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of stolen property, and obstructing government administration.

Woman scammedPolice remind the public: if you get a phone call warning of a relative in jeopardy, always try to contact that family member BEFORE sending money anywhere. At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 10, an 84-year-old Upper East Side woman received a phone call during which an individual posing as her grandson claimed that he been arrested in another state. The distraught grandmother was next transferred to an alleged police officer and then a so-called public defender, both of whom urged the senior to wire bail money to free the grandson. Unfortunately, the woman complied, wiring $25,000 before placing a call to her grandson and discovering that he was fine.

Denim DeniedWhen prices for jeans soar, shoplifters try to score. At 6:21 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10, a 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old man, both from Queens, were seen on store security video inside Barneys at 660 Madison Ave. removing merchandise and putting it in a shopping bag and book bag. The pair were stopped at the door by security personnel and soon arrested by police on charges of grand larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. The items stolen were two pairs of jeans with a total value of nearly $3,000.