Police Blotter

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 1| September 29 - October 5, 2006

Police Blotter

Bizarre death
The body of a man clad in black leather and cowboy boots and strapped by a spiked leather collar to a low iron fence on Hudson St. at James J. Walker Park was discovered at about 7 a.m. Wed. Sept. 27, police said.

The victim, described as white or Hispanic and in his 40s, had no identification. People passing earlier said they mistook the body for a pre-Halloween effigy.
Police at the scene surmised that the man had committed suicide or had died during a sex act.

“The medical examiner did the autopsy this morning and we won’t know what happened until after we get the results,” said Sergeant Kevin Hayes on Thursday afternoon Sept. 27.

One witness said it looked as if the victim had slumped down facing the fence and might have accidentally strangled himself, according to daily newspaper reports. A West Village resident told police he had seen a man in leather wandering the streets about three hours before the body was found.

Stabbed on train
An argument between two men that started at about 3:20 a.m. Sat. Sept. 23 at the 14th St. and Seventh Ave. station on a northbound No. 2 train, turned violent when one of them stabbed his adversary in the abdomen and fled from the train — which was traveling on the local track — at 23rd St., police said. The victim, Antonio Ramirez, 33, managed to get off at the 28th St. station and phoned 911. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where his wound was closed with stitches and he was released.

Bank note
A man who walked into the North Fork bank branch on Sixth Ave. and W. 26th St. in Chelsea on Thursday afternoon Sept. 14 got away with an unspecified amount of cash after passing a threatening note to a teller, police said. The thief, whose picture was recorded by a surveillance camera, was described as white, 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing about 165 pounds.

New charges
Peter Braunstein, charged with the Oct. 31, 2005, rape, imprisonment and robbery of a woman in her Chelsea apartment on W. 24th St., also faces an Ohio robbery indictment for tying up a man, putting a gun to his face and demanding his A.T.M. card and I.D. number.

Braunstein, who was dressed as a firefighter and set fires in the hall outside the woman’s apartment in the Chelsea incident, was a fugitive in Ohio before he was arrested for the Chelsea rape in December 2005 in Memphis, Tenn.

Braunstein, 42, has indicated he would claim an insanity defense. A psychiatric exam is scheduled for Oct. 11, followed by a hearing Oct. 17. Judge James A. Yates this week set a possible Jan. 4 trial date.

Upstairs downstairs
A man and a woman who were patrons of the second floor V.I.P. lounge of Sol, a club at 609 W. 29th St., at 3:45 a.m. Sun. Sept. 24 got into an argument with another patron who pushed the woman down the stairs, police said.

Anthony Bruneti, 23, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, was arrested by Officer Peter Volaric of the 10th Precinct and charged with assault. The victim, Dana Hodges, was taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital with neck and back injuries.

Sol has had 19 violations of State Liquor Authority regulations since the beginning of the year, according to Captain Stephen Hughes, 10th Precinct commanding officer.

September crime down
The good news from the 10th Precinct is that crime generally declined during the 28 days ending Sept. 24 this year compared to the same period last year.

“Except for the clubs and the shooting [nonfatal] in Chelsea Park this week, it’s been pretty quiet,” said Mike Patrillo, community affairs officer of the precinct, which covers Chelsea and Clinton.

However, grand larceny — often stolen bags and wallets reported by club patrons — increased by 24 percent this year. But robbery was down by 30 percent, felony assault declined 20 percent and the decrease in burglary was a significant 50 percent, compared to last September, Patrillo said. There were three homicides during the entire year to Sept. 24 compared to five last year.

During the 28-day period this year, 10 cars were stolen in the precinct compared to nine for the same period last year.

There was a significant increase in gun arrests for the period this year, 12 compared to five last year.

Albert Amateau