Sunday, May 06, 2012

Report On Disturbing Attack On Court Street

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Over the week-end, I got two disturbing emails in my inbox. The first one is from Reader J. who wrote to let me know that she and her friend were attached on Court Street today. She writes:
On Court Street, Saturday at around 3:30 PM, in front of Papel (Warren & Court) a teenager attacked three people (one of them, a friend of mine whose nose was broken in the melee), for no apparent reason. He got into an altercation with a man on a bicycle and this some how escalated into him attacking a man standing in the doorway of Papel and then rushing at me when I screamed that I was calling the police. Long story short, he got away down Warren Street towards Smith
If your readers have any more information about him or his whereabouts, we'd appreciate it. We'd like to press charges. He was probably 15-16 years old, 5'6"(ish), slim build, with dark curly shoulder length hair, possibly Latino, dark/navy backpack, blue jeans, sneakers, black baseball hat.
Also, just in case--the man who was attacked in Papel was apparently picking out his wedding invitations with his bride-to-be, if you post this and they see this I wish them the best of luck and I hope they have a very happy wedding! At least it will be memorable...
The police were called and a report was filed.  If anyone witnessed the incident or saw the attacher on either Court or Smith Street, please contact the 76th Precinct (718 834 3211.) You can also send me an email at pardonmeinbrooklyn at gmail dot com and I will forward it to J.

The second incident happened on Friday afternoon at 4:30 Pm. Luckily, no one got hurt in this particular one, but it is notable for the lack of response and 'no show" from the 76th Precinct even after two calls to 911.
This is how Reader M described what happened:
A. and I were on Court Street, Friday 4th May 2012 around 4:30pm, when a mob of school kids 12 to 14 years old, rushed pass us and tossed a knapsack by the doorway of 396 Court. Presuming that the backpack had been stolen, A. and I tried to be good samaritans and called the 76th precinct only to get a recording. We then called 911 and were told a car will be there.
20 minutes later we saw a police car come down Court and A. waved them down. They stopped at the far corner down the street and Anna walked over and told them about the bag. They told her they were responding to another call and a different car will be coming soon. Another 15 minutes, not a single police car came.As our backs were turned, another group of kids came by. One young man proceeds to take the bag. When we tried to stop him and told him we had called the police, his entourage threateningly gestured at us to stop bothering them. They then ran off through the park down toward Smith. Totally shocked, we called 911 again and waited and waited and waited.
Anna G and I left the scene after waiting another 20 minutes. I went home to call the 76th Precinct to report the incident only to get a recording. I tried to connect with the Community Affair rep only to hear five rings and then disconnected....no operator...no one!Around 6:05pm, I got a call from what sounded like a bored and intimidating female officer, only to get disconnected when I started asking why it took so long to respond. Is this how our police force should act? Are we really safe?
Granted, this was not an emergency, but this should have prompted some kind of response from our precinct. After all, New Yorkers are reminded regularly about reporting unattended bags. 
It does seem rather astonishing that it was impossible to connect to anyone at the 76th Precinct on a Friday afternoon.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised the 76th did not respond. When I lived in that part of the neighborhood, they were always helpful. I have moved into the 84th precinct (which covers Cobble Hill) and they are often unresponsive and unhelpful.

k said...

76th precint reeks of cronyism...'nuff said.

Anonymous said...

it was around this time that i was attacked by around 5 kids (14-16 in age probably) walking down smith from the carroll stop. they just came up behind me and hit me hard in the side of my head three times. it was 6:30pm and as i had my headphones on i had no clue it was coming. i always thought it might have been a dare or initiation of some kind. people need to look around them at all times, but especially around this time of year since it seems to be hightened.

leemonada76 said...

I came out of the F train stop on Carroll apx 5pm and there were 20-30 kids milling about. There should be an officer assigned there during the morning and evening rush. Oh well.

Rockstar said...

76th is useless, presumably unless someone gets shot. My fiancee had her purse nabbed by a man on a bike, right where this incident happened, on Warren between Court and Smith. I tracked her phone to a residence north of Atlantic Ave, where a few young men were sitting outside on their stoop with bicycles. Called the 76th and they wouldn't do anything because the biker had left their precinct. Called the precinct I was in, and they said they couldn't help because the crime happened in another precinct. I am standing there looking at the perpetrator, but all I got was a callback a week later to look at mugshots.

For comparison, once I was in the west village, and a man started hitting a woman he was with. As I'm running towards the guy, yelling, and cop car comes blazing around the corner with lights flashing. Response time could not have been 60 seconds. How do we get those guys on our beat?

Anonymous said...

There have been postings recently on my school list serve (PS 58) about teens causing trouble around Court/2nd Place after school lets out. 1 posted about kids bothering young girls (11/12 years old) and another about surrounding an adult after 1 kid pretends to fall and blames/harasses the passerby...

Anonymous said...

The 76th precinct is lame, slow, disinterested. I think k has it right "cronyism"." Something is not right when a precinct cares so little about what is happening right under their noses in the neighborhood. It's rampant.

Economy is down so now we're unsafe said...

I've lived in the 76th Pct for over 15 years - my wife has lived here for her entire life...

I have NEVER seen a more disinterested, uncaring, unprofessional group of police in my life.

I've had the occassion to call the police twice - both within the past 5 years - BOTH reactions were like those noted in this blog. The police in this area do NOT care.

We've all seen polcie cars with BOTH officers texting while driving - one while on "watch" the other while he/she is driving. It's NOT only once, it's 75% of the police cars I see driving along Smith or Court.

Maybe they need a new Pct Captain? Maybe a new watch-commander. Either way, KATIA, this is the topic you should be covering - NOT Bland Pavements near a bank.

Anonymous said...

"KATIA, this is the topic you should be covering - NOT Bland Pavements near a bank."

YES!! i've been reading this blog everyday for years and while the change in the 16 Handles sign was a wonderful example of the power of this blog.. these crime stories are much more important.