Crime Watch

BY JERRY DANZIG

Police Nab MuggerPolice arrested one of a trio of thugs who preyed on a young man. Just after 7 p.m. on Feb. 2, a 35-year-old man was jumped by three men in front of 415 Broadway. One of the three bad guys shouted, “Give me your money!” and struck the victim in the face multiple times, causing swelling and a laceration to his left cheek and nose. The miscreant then proceeded to steal $2,700 in cash from the victim’s pocket. Fortunately, police identified and apprehended the goon, and Issa Diba, 30, was arrested on later that evening charged with robbery. His two accomplices fled in an unknown direction on foot and couldn’t be found in the neighborhood.

Hood with a HoodieYet another young man was mugged on Feb. 2. At 1 a.m. a 19-year-old man was walking home when two men came up from behind him in front of 3 Hanover Square and called to him. When he turned around, they said, “We’re going to need all your money.” One of the pair lifted up his hoodie, simulating that he had a weapon. Fearing for his life, the victim hurriedly reached into his pocket and handed over $60 in cash. Police searched the area couldn’t find the two muggers.

When You Gotta GoA young man turned to violence after being denied bathroom privileges in a cafe. At 10 a.m. on Jan. 30, a 22-year-old man came into the Flavors Cafe at 27 Whitehall St. and went upstairs without ordering any food or speaking to the staff. A cafe employee asked the young man what he was doing, and the latter replied that he was going to use the bathroom. The employee told him he had to leave because he had not paid for anything, and the bathroom was for paying customers only. As the visitor was leaving he attempted to knock over a counter, and another employee pushed him out of the store. The visitor came back, however, and punched the second employee. Two other employees then attempted to restrain the young man until police came but let him go when he started complaining about breathing. Still, the visitor returned yet again, this time with a 3-foot-3-inch-long plank of wood, chasing after two of the employees and striking both their backs with the plank. All three employees tried to restrain the man once more. A fourth employee tried to calm the visitor down and was rewarded with a punch to the face. At last the police arrived and arrested Christian Demont, 22, charging him with assault. He was removed to Beth Israel for treatment, while three of the four employees were taken to New York Downtown Hospital for treatment.

Wild West StreetBurglars struck offices in the same building on two successive nights recently. At 9 p.m. on Jan. 24, a man and a woman entered 50 West St. using the construction entrance on Washington Street. They attempted but apparently failed to break into an office on the second floor before successfully breaking into an office on the third floor and stealing various items. These included a black Apple iPad valued at $800, a Microsoft Surface laptop priced at $2,000, a Samsung camcorder worth $300, and a set of Schlage keys priced at $30, making a total of $3,130.

Then the next night at 9:12 p.m., two men entered offices of businesses on the second and third floors and removed property from the latter. On the second floor, the perpetrators cut a hole into the drywall with a crowbar and climbed through the wall to enter the office. On the third floor they knocked an air conditioner off the wall mount onto the floor before taking property from a locked office. The items stolen included seven Dell laptops, an iPad, and a Keveno computer, worth a total of $18,900.