The Manhattan district attorney’s office released the full bodycam footage showing the altercation between cops and a group of men in Times Square that led to a high-profile case drawing national headlines. There are also new camera angles not seen before.
TIMES SQUARE, Manhattan (WABC) — Four people believed to be involved in the attack of two NYPD officers in Times Square last month were detained in Phoenix, Arizona, according to ICE.
Officials say the four individuals who “were believed to be fleeing the state of New York” for their suspected involvement in the attack were apprehended while traveling to the Phoenix Greyhound Bus Station from El Paso, Texas.
They were then transferred to the custody of ICE officials.
The NYPD is working with ICE to determine whether they are the same four men who allegedly skipped town on a bus headed toward California after being charged in the attack. If the grand jury indicts them, they will be expected to appear in court.
It comes as one of the suspects arrested in the attack was indicted by a grand jury.
N.J. Burkett has the latest.
Yohenry Brito, the man who allegedly set off the melee by resisting arrest, appeared in court on Tuesday where he was indicted for his role in the assault.
The charges against him will be unsealed when he is arraigned on the indictment at a later date.
Before the indictment, Brito appeared before the judge for about 10 minutes and a new court date was set for March 25 on his two prior misdemeanor cases.
Brito’s defense attorney commented outside court, saying only that “he pleaded not guilty.”
Brito is being held on Rikers Island on $15,000 bail.
The Police Benevolent Association president said in the indictment is a step toward justice.
“This is just one small step towards justice for our injured brothers,” PBA President Patrick Hendry said. “It might never have happened without the outcry from New Yorkers who are fed up with a justice system that keeps failing to protect both police officers and the public. Too many of the participants in this vicious attack are still roaming free. We are once again urging all New Yorkers: keep speaking up until they are all behind bars where they belong.”
The grand jury hearing comes as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg continues to defend his office’s decision to release five of the six suspects without bail.
In light of the attack, some local lawmakers gathered Monday to call for New York City to once again start cooperating with federal immigration officials. Mayor Eric Adams said the law in place that limits the cooperation between the two doesn’t impact the work ICE does.
“ICE can execute warrants. ICE can have a role here. No one is stopping ICE from doing their job. They have a job to do when you deal with dangerous people such as that. I cannot use city resources based on existing law. I think that’s a question that should be presented to the council,” Adams said.
A council spokesperson says the laws limiting cooperation with ICE exist, “to ensure immigrant communities aren’t deterred from seeking help or reporting crime to city officials out of fear of deportation.”
Meanwhile, a statement from New York Immigration Coalition says they trust Bragg and are calling on NYPD to “release the full bodycam footage of the incident to reduce rampant speculation that is fueling anti-immigrant rhetoric.”
Authorities continue to search for several others involved in the attack against the two officers. They say 14 people were involved.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — The NYPD says it has foiled the largest robbery pattern in the city – thieves snatching women’s purses and phones out of their hands.
Officers raided a suspected safe house in the Bronx early Monday morning. The suspects are migrants from Venezuela.
“In recent a months a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city, but by no means are the individuals committing these crimes representing the vast number of people coming to New York to build a better life,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said.
The string of 62 thefts of phones stolen from women on the street and in the subway system has been linked to a mastermind overseeing the spree from his Bronx apartment, the NYPD said on Monday.
Victor Parra, who is still being sought, ran a sophisticated criminal enterprise of migrants predominantly living in the city’s system, police said.
“They use social media platforms to organize and coordinate their thefts. This is how they operate. The leader of the crew identified as Victor Parra will blast out a message via WhatsApp that he’s looking for phones,” Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said.
Video released by the NYPD shows a 52-year-old woman being violently dragged by thieves on a scooter after being mugged of her bag, phone, credit cards, keys, glasses, $60 cash and her ID. It happened last month in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn.
To carry out their crimes, they would ride up behind their victims, mostly women walking alone on the sidewalk, and grab their phones or purses and make their getaway.
A scooter operator would make $100 and a phone snatcher $300 to $600.
The phones were taken to Parra’s apartment, where his ‘tech guy’ hacked into the stolen phones, accessing the victims’ financial and banking apps for fraudulent purchases in the U.S. or Central America.
The phones were then sent to Colombia, where they were wiped clean.
Police recovered 22 stolen phones as well as victim’s identification from Parra’s home during a search on Monday.
Investigators said they took five people into custody on Monday.
The following individuals have been identified and charged:
– 20-year-old Cleyber Andrade is charged with 25 counts of grand larceny.
– 23-year-old Juan Uzcatgui is charged with 23 counts of grand larceny.
– 24-year-old Roxanna Sahos is charged with tampering with evidence.
– 20-year-old Alexander Dayker is charged with criminal possession of stolen property.
In all, seven of the 14 members of this crew have been arrested and charged with multiple counts of grand larceny.
“They’re essentially ghost criminals. No criminal history. Not photos. No cell phone. No social media. Sometimes we’re even unclear on name or a date of birth. And on top of that these operations are extremely sophisticated.” Caban said.
“If they’re found guilty and they do their time they should be deported. You should not be allowed to walk the streets of New York,” Mayor Eric Adams added.
Parra is from Venezuela and entered the country last year. He was last before a judge in December on a grand larceny charge.
The string started in November 2023 on the Upper East Side and the most recent incident was in Chinatown on Sunday night
The thefts occurred in every borough except Staten Island. Nearly 56% of them were in Manhattan
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
NEW YORK — Seven migrants were arrested, including several Monday morning in an NYPD raid in the Bronx targeting a crew behind a citywide robbery pattern, the NYPD said.
Police believe they are part of group responsible for a citywide pattern of cellphone robberies. Some of the stolen goods were recovered in the raid, police said.
Police said it all starts with criminals on scooters who steal people’s cellphones, and then hack into them to get access to banking apps.
Surveillance video shows one incident in which a suspect on a scooter grabs a victim’s bag, dragging them to the sidewalk.
The investigation led to a raid and several arrests Monday at an apartment in the Allerton section of the Bronx. Police have issued warrants for three other suspects and believe even more are out there.
Robbery ring was run by a Venezuelan migrant, police say
Videos provided by the NYPD show suspects working in pairs on mopeds tugging at, and often knocking over, unsuspecting victims to wrestle free iPhones, bags, and wallets.
Police officers, accompanied by Mayor Eric Adams, made multiple arrests in an apartment at 2790 Bronx Park East, described as a stash house or headquarters for a wide-ranging, multi-borough cellphone robbery operation connected to more than a dozen suspects. Many of them are migrants, according to police.
“These small number of people are breaking the law and are having a huge impact on our public safety, and that is why we zeroed in on them,” Adams said. “We’re not going to sit idly by while people choose to prey on their fellow New Yorkers.”
“This administration, police department, we’ve always talked about welcoming asylum seekers. But once you start robbing people and stealing from them, your status is criminal, and you’ll be treated as such,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Tarik Sheppard said.
“It doesn’t matter if a person is a migrant, asylum or if the person is a long-term New Yorker. You break the law, it’ll be investigated, and it will be handled by our criminal justice system,” Adams said. “You should not be allowed to walk the streets of the city of New York if you are committing any form of criminal behavior that’s impacting the quality of life of New Yorkers.”
The arrests went down in the apartment of Victor Parra, the alleged ringleader, at around 5:30 a.m. Monday. Parra is still at large, police said.
“So in recent months, a wave of migrant crime has washed over our city. But by no means do the individuals committing these crimes represent the vast number of people coming to New York to build a better life. But they are, nonetheless, preying on New Yorkers and making our city less safe,” NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said.
The police commissioner said what’s making this case particularly difficult to crack is the suspected migrants involved have very little paper trail — no criminal record in the U.S., no social media and sometimes, he said, it’s hard for police to even authenticate a suspect’s name or date of birth.
“I want to reiterate the overwhelming number of 170,000-plus migrants and asylum seekers are attempting to continue their next leg of their journey of pursuing the American dream. But those who commit a crime will be treated like any other criminal in this city. No different mindset, no different reaction, no different response from the police department,” Adams said.
Most migrants come to NYC in search of a better life. Sadly, some come to commit crimes. While the rest of NYC was sleeping, @NYCMayor@NYPDChiefPatrol@NYPDDetectives joined @NYPDnews investigators & specialized teams as we carried out a search warrant — booming a door and… pic.twitter.com/1KkTHQ6HYC
— NYPD Assistant Commissioner Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) February 5, 2024
Crooks used scooters for snatch-and-grab robberies, police say
“We believe the individuals involved have been involved in 62 robbery incidents across our city, including our transit system. Including riding on mopeds, scooters, and snatching property of New Yorkers, such as iPhones and wallets. These individuals do not have a license to steal in our city,” Adams said.
Adams said the NYPD seized more than 2,500 illegal mopeds and scooters last year — a 74% increase over the year prior.
“The crimes in this pattern involved multiple thieves on mopeds, snatching cellphones and purses from victims. These thieves would ride up behind their victims on the sidewalk, steal their property, and then make their getaway. The majority of the victims are women, simply just walking alone. We have seen that the mopeds used in these crimes are also stolen as well,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.
Scooters and mopeds have become the vehicle of choice for criminals in New York City.
Back in July, CBS New York got an exclusive look at how the NYPD has been going on the offensive, targeting what it describes as roving groups of unlicensed scooters, similar to the ones used in this ring.
“Mopeds and scooters are being used for crimes and harming innocent people. I want to be clear, again, the law is coming for those who use mopeds illegally,” Adams said.
Police said the robbery pattern started in November 2023 on the Upper East Side and the most recent incident happened on Sunday night in Chinatown.
“This network of thieves predominantly live in the migrant shelter system. They use social media platforms to organize and coordinate their thefts,” Kenny said.
Authorities said Parra would put out the request on WhatsApp, and that the scooter drivers and thieves may not even know one another.
“Once the messages are received, the crime wave begins, with the scooter operators making $100 a day, and the actual phone snatcher making between $300-600 per phone that is stolen,” Kenny said.
The stolen phones were brought to Parra, who used a “tech guy who is able to hack into these stolen phones, where he gains access to the victim’s financial and banking apps,” Kenny said.
Investigators said the suspects were grabbing phones because they are attracted to payment apps, including Apple Pay. Detectives said suspects used credit cards linked to phones.
Kenny said so far police have identified 14 members of the crew, and that seven had been arrested so far. More arrests are expected.
Some Bronx residents said the theft ring worries them, especially for their most vulnerable loved ones and neighbors.
“I’m very scared, and my mother, she’s right there, and it’s very scary for the older people, too,” said Bronx resident Pamela Colon. “It’s not right what they’re doing.”
A “national problem,” Adams says
“This is a national problem. We need a national solution, on both sides of the aisle. Republicans have blocked real immigration reform for many years. It is time for us to deal with this real issue that’s impacting cities, not only New York,” Adams said. “This is a national problem that’s impacting cities. And our message is a clear one: Over 175,000 migrants and asylum seekers that have arrived here, this is 12 people. So any New Yorker that looks at those who are trying to fulfill their next step on the American dream as criminals, that is wrong. That is not what we’re seeing. The overwhelming number of migrants and asylum seekers want to work. They want to contribute to our society. They believe we have put a pause on their progression on contributing to our society. We should not in any way take these criminals and state that they are the indicators of the people who are here.”
“This is not about migrants and asylum seekers. It’s about criminals who committed a crime. And we would treat criminals the same if they’re longstanding New Yorkers, or if they just arrived here last year. These are criminals that we brought to justice,” Adams said.
Police department officials say 14 people, believed to be asylum seekers staying in city shelters were involved in the assault.
Authorities have arrested and charged six – five were released without bail.
DA Bragg says his office ‘will not rest until every person who assaulted a police officer in this awful attack is held accountable.’
The incident prompted growing concern from the New York Immigration Coalition that a few bad apples would put a target on the greater asylum-seeking population.
“I think that we have to really highlight that these are isolated incidents,” said Robert Agyemang, Vice President of the New York Immigration Coalition. “It feeds into kind of the belief system that these people are coming and they’re messing up things when it’s not really the case.”
According to data from the mayor’s office, there were fewer migrants in the city’s care since last week.
On January 7, 2024, the city reported 69,000 migrants in their care, as opposed to 67,500 on January 23. Meaning that migrants are leaving the city’s care faster than they are coming in.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, and on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Have a breaking news tip or an idea for a story we should cover? Send it to Eyewitness News using the form below. If attaching a video or photo, terms of use apply.
Nearly a week after two NYPD officers were injured by a group of attackers in Times Square, the Manhattan district attorney initially dodged questions as to why his office did not seek bail for several of the suspects involved — some of whom have since fled the state, sources previously said.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined early Friday afternoon to answer questions from NBC New York regarding the case and why several migrants accused of assaulting police were released without bond. He did not respond when asked if he thought not requesting bail was a mistake, instead walking past reporters without saying much at all.
Seemingly caught off-guard by the questions, Bragg offered only one answer: “We’ll speak in court.”
The Manhattan DA held a news conference to make it clear attacks on police officers will not be tolerated, after dodging reporter questions earlier in the day. News 4’s Melissa Russo reports.
The DA was attending a law enforcement conference which reporters were invited to by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. She has made it clear she disagrees with the decision to let the suspects go free without bail, and has called for the attackers to be deported. Hochul said the problem was not about weak bail laws, but rather the failure to use the laws in place.
“All I know is that an assault on a police officer means you should be sitting in jail,” said Hochul.
Bragg and Hochul met behind closed doors, but he was noticeably absent when the governor emerged for a news conference with several other district attorneys from Queens, Brooklyn and Westchester. Hochul confirmed that she discussed the incident with Bragg, adding that she was “confident there will be more charges brought.”
Hours later, Bragg convened an early evening press conference to try and clarify his position — insisting he would not tolerate attacks on police, following days of criticism and silence from his office.
“We do not tolerate or accept assaults on police officers. I watched the tape this week, despicable behavior and it sickened me and outraged me,” Bragg said.
The embattled DA said his office was looking into new video to identify what role each individual may have played in the group assault. Bragg told reporters he did not request bail because he is proceeding cautiously to ensure they have the proper suspects identified in the case.
“That is what is required to secure a conviction and get accountability and send the right people to jail. That’s what we’ve been working on all week,” Bragg said, noting that the one who was “deemed to have committed the most serious crimes is currently on Rikers.”
He also said the office has received more information than it did after Saturday, and he expects to get further information in the next few days. What remains unclear is if Bragg has any hesitation or concerns about whether they have arrested and charged the right suspects, even if they were not held on bail.
Seven suspects have been arrested for the attack so far, and police officials have said at least 13 people were involved in the attack on the officers. At least one suspect had bail set and is being held on Rikers.
Several of the suspects are migrants, NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said, while police were familiar with some from past incidents.
“Some of them live in the migrant shelter, they appear to be migrants, obviously. I don’t know when they got here. Some of them already have lengthy police records,” said Chell. “These individuals who were arrested [or] will be arrested should be indicted, they should be sitting in Rikers awaiting their day in front of the judge. Plain and simple.”
Multiple sources familiar with the matter said they believe four of those initially arrested and released after court have since boarded a bus under aliases and were headed toward the California–Mexico border.
Federal officials said that in many cases, New York officials do not alert them when an undocumented defendant is being released from court or jail. A spokesperson for the Manhattan district attorney’s office said bail was not sought in part because they were still sorting out which defendants committed which acts during the assault.
An official with the New York Office of Court Administration said they were “not aware of the defendants’ whereabouts but they are obligated to return to Court on their scheduled dates”; their next court date in New York was scheduled for March 4.
Gov. Hochul said suspected attackers will face additional charges in the attack on two NYPD officers. News 4’s Jonathan Dienst reports.
Police do not track crime committed by undocumented residents, but arrest records show residents living at 30 of the city’s 200 migrant shelters have been arrested more 1,200 in the last year. City records show the top crimes include petit larceny, assault, grand larceny, endangering the welfare of a child and robbery.
Former NYPD Chief of Department and current NBC New York consultant Terry Monahan said that while the vast majority of migrants are coming to the U.S. to seek better lives, crime is a growing problem.
“A lot of times it shows it’s a first arrest for that individual because it’s the first time they’re here. And they’re getting sent right back out on the streets to do it again,” Monahan said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has shared harsh words for the migrants arrested.
“Get them all — send them back,” the Democrat said Thursday. “You don’t touch our police officers, you don’t touch anyone.”
The lack of consequences for the suspects has sparked police pushback.
“Why aren’t they in jail right now? They brutally attacked a police officer and a lieutenant. Our criminal justice system is upside down,” said Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.
Details of the Times Square attack
Authorities say the caught-on-camera brawl erupted as cops tried to break up a group of migrants in front of a shelter on 42nd Street, steps from the New Amsterdam Theatre. Police officials said Thursday that it is believed at least 13 people were involved in the attack on the officers.
Multiple law enforcement sources said it all started when a couple of people walked up to the officers and said there was a group being disorderly, causing issues.
Police went to check it out, and the situation escalated quickly. Video obtained by NBC New York shows the moments before the beatdown, as a police officer and a lieutenant were talking to the group. They put their hands on one person and suddenly, the cops are surrounded. They stumble down 42nd Street, where the officers fall to the ground, before being kicked, stomped and punched in the face and head.
Two officers were hurt when chaos erupted outside a migrant shelter in Times Square over the weekend.
One lieutenant suffered a cut to his face. The other officer has injuries to the side of his body.
“I’m appalled at this. The city, we have had enough,” said Chell. “The shame of this is they’re trying to keep this city safe, and they get attacked by eight cowards who are kicking them in the face, taking cheap shots.”
Those arrested have been accused of assault or attempted assault on a police officer and gang assault. Several are charged additionally with obstructing governmental administration.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have not commented on whether they will attempt to detain the defendants in this case. Camille Joseph Varlack, the chief of staff for Mayor Adams, said NYC’s sanctuary city status does not prevent police from coordinating with ICE.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
Violence at migrant shelters has been a burgeoning problem as of late, prompting demands for fresh quality of life initiatives in certain neighborhoods. The city’s largest shelter is on Randall’s Island, where a deadly fight broke out earlier this month. Three people were arraigned Tuesday in that case.
[ad_2]
Jonathan Dienst, Melissa Russo and NBC New York Staff
An antisimetic hatemonger was caught on camera leaving a book with swastikas and other Nazi symbols scrawled on the front cover on the stoop of a Brooklyn home, police said Friday.
Surveillance video from a camera outside the home, near Ocean Parkway and Avenue W, captured the suspect at 1:25 a.m. as he walked up the front steps and placed the book on the top step before leaving the scene.
The suspect has no known connection to the home. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone Jewish lives in the home.
Police ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
A group of illegal immigrants were seen attacking two NYPD officers outside a migrant shelter in Times Square, New York City.
The incident occurred when the officers attempted to advise the illegal aliens to move along. They then appear to attempt to subdue one of the individuals.
As the officers attempted to make an arrest, the suspects reportedly kicked and punched them in the head and body. The attack was captured on video and then shared on social media.
Four suspects were arrested a little while later and identified as aging in the range from 19 to 24.
“They were kicking and punching one of the cops,” a security guard nearby told the New York Daily News. “They mobbed [the cops]. It was wild.”
A large group of migrants assaulted two NYPD officers on 42nd street. This is the result of migrants arriving into an environment where it feels as if there are no consequences for committing crimes.
The New York Daily News report seems more concerned about how this assault by illegal immigrants is going to reflect on the debate regarding the border crisis.
The incident, they fret, is “likely to raise the temperature of the already heated debate surrounding the migrant crisis, in which more than 100,000 migrants came to the city last year.”
Yea, probably. Seeing video of animals assaulting police officers in the hopes that they can free one of their own based on overwhelming numbers seems concerning – especially when they number in the hundreds of thousands in NYC alone, millions across the country.
If they’re brazen enough to go after law enforcement, what will they do to the average person walking down the street?
⚡️ VIDEO: A group of migrants pummel NYPD cops outside a Times Square shelter
They tried to arrest one, when a group of men attacked.
They kicked and punched the officers in the head and body, video showshttps://t.co/7pVLMYoXtf
Astoundingly, the illegal immigrants clearly caught on tape trying to assault police officers were, according to the report, “released without bail following arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court.”
Even better? One of those arrested and released without bail has two pending cases in Manhattan for assault and robbery.
A statement from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office explains the illegal immigrants may have been released due to a lack of information on them at the time of the arrest.
“We now have additional video surveillance that was not available at the time of arraignment and are continuing to speak to witnesses in order to determine the specific role of each defendant,” the statement reads, according to Fox News.
What are the odds they track these guys – who are, by the left’s definition, undocumented – down? We’d wager the next time they are seen is when they end up assaulting somebody else, or worse, murdering them.
Bragg, you may recall, has been heavily criticized for his ‘soft on crime’ policies and was eviscerated by the wife of a fallen NYPD officer at his memorial.
NYPD officer Jason Rivera was murdered in the streets of Harlem. His widowed wife addressed DA Alvin Bragg:
“The system continues to fail us. We are not safe anymore. I hope [Bragg] is watching you speak through me right now.” pic.twitter.com/Fg3Zx2xp8V
In another shocking video to emerge Tuesday, two illegal immigrants driving a van unlicensed and uninsured almost took out a little girl and a bus full of schoolchildren in upstate New York.
Meanwhile, the New York City Council has maintained its focus on reining in the NYPD, not illegal immigrants who haven’t met a law they’re seemingly unwilling to break.
While these illegal aliens remain on the streets undocumented and out on bail, police officers in New York City will be forced to document every single interaction they have with the public.
If you want to know why the city in chaos, why criminals have no fear of consequences, why our streets are flooded with illegals and homeless, why cops are attacked openly, why our subways are a disaster, why our kids can’t read, and why our tax base is fleeing… here you go. https://t.co/2cmB4xcDap
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust. The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”
Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox… More about Rusty Weiss
FREE NEWS ALERTS
Subscribe to receive the most important stories delivered straight to your inbox. Your subscription helps protect independent media.
By subscribing, you agree to receive emails from ThePoliticalInsider.com and that you’ve read and agree to our Privacy policy and to our terms and conditions.
Three men were indicted in the stabbing death a 24-year-old man at one of New York City’s migrant shelters, according to the Manhattan district attorney.
The trio — 27-year-old Moises Coronado, 33-year-old Ferneys Horta, and 27-year-old Anthony Navas — were each charged in the indictment with first-degree manslaughter and gang assault for the deadly incident on Jan. 6 on Randall’s Island, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday.
One of the men, Coronado, also faces a count of second-degree murder for the death of Dafren Canizalez.
“As alleged, Dafren Canizalez was brutally killed in an attack by a group, who trapped and chased him until he collapsed,” said Bragg. “Everyone who comes into our city deserves to be safe, and we will continue to hold those who commit serious acts of violence accountable.””
The three men and Canizalez were staying at the shelter on Randall’s Island when the violence broke out around 7:30 p.m., according to court documents. Coronado and Canizalez got into an argument in the cafeteria of the facility, documents stated, and Coronado left to get a knife.
“Everyone in the lunchroom was crowded together, standing on tables watching. I seen security trying to cool down this one guest, but the guest he just wasn’t having it,” an employee of the shelter told NBC New York. “He ran to get something, came back and lunged at the guy. Everything happened so quickly.”
He came back with his friends Horta and Navas, each of whom was armed with a knife in their pocket, documents said. When they found Canizalez, they surrounded him, and Coronado punched him in the face. The trio chased him out of the cafeteria and caught up to him when he was blocked in by a locked door.
Coronado allegedly stabbed him multiple times, including in the hand and the deadly wound to his chest. The suspects continued to chase Canizalez around until he collapsed, according to court documents.
Medics took the man to a local hospital where he was ultimately pronounced dead, police said. A knife was also recovered from the scene.
Coronado reportedly tried to run off after the attack but was stopped by security, and was later arrested at the scene. Horta and Navas were arrested two days later, Bragg said.
Mohamed Alaouie is charged with assault, aggravated vehicular assault, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the frenzy that tore through midtown shortly after the ball drop to ring in 2024.
According to court documents and on-the-record statements, Alaouie and his girlfriend sitting inside his BMW sedan near Seventh Avenue and West 33rd Street after spending time at a bar earlier in the evening. A bystander notified cops around 1:30 a.m. that Alaouie was attacking the woman, and the officer told Alaouie to put his vehicle in park.
He instead reversed, allegedly, and drove onto the sidewalk of West 33rd Street, which was full of dozens of people. Court papers say he hit one victim before reentering the roadway and turning north onto Seventh Avenue, which runs southbound. The mother of that victim identified her as Bernans in a social media post. She had been dining outdoors in the crowd at the time of the crash and suffered multiple broken bones and teeth, her family previously said.
Alaouie drove one block the wrong way before turning onto West 34th Street, with officers in pursuit on foot. He got stuck in traffic and started ramming vehicles in front of and behind him, prosecutors allege. Then he allegedly accelerated and hit a food cart on the sidewalk, which hit three pedestrians and pinned two others underneath it.
The 44-year-old sped off again, driving onto the sidewalk and westbound on 34th Street, crossing Eighth Avenue and eventually returning to the road between Eighth and Ninth avenues, where he hit several other vehicles, prosecutors say. Alaouie also hit three more pedestrians and one police officer who was trying to stop him on foot.
His vehicle eventually broke down after crashing into another car and police were able to arrest him. Cocaine was recovered at the scene, and from his pants at the hospital the following day, investigators said.
Alaouie’s girlfriend was noticeably injured when she jumped out of the vehicle at some point during his spree, prosecutors say. One of the pedestrians was concussed, and another remains in constant pain from injuries to her elbow joint, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office.
One of the two victims pinned under the food cart suffered skin and tissue tears from metal on the cart. That individual now needs physical therapy to be able to walk without assistance.
Attorney information for Alaouie, of Fort Lee, wasn’t immediately available.
“This defendant allegedly careened through packed sidewalks and streets during the busiest time of the year in midtown,” Bragg said in a statement announcing the indictment Tuesday. “His recklessness endangered the lives of countless New Yorkers and visitors who were ringing in the New Year. I hope the victims can fully recover from their injuries and thank the police officers who were on the scene to apprehend this individual.”
Councilmember Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated “Central Park Five” now serving as Public Safety Chair on the New York City Council, said he was stopped Friday night by members of the NYPD.
“Last night, while driving with my wife and children and listening in to a call with my Council colleagues on speakerphone, I was pulled over by an NYPD officer in my beloved Village of Harlem within the 28th Precinct. I introduced myself as Councilman Yusef Salaam, and subsequently asked the officer why I was pulled over. Instead of answering my question, the officer stated, ‘We’re done here,’ and proceeded to walk away,” Salaam explained in a statement Saturday morning.
The traffic stop comes years after Salaam was wrongfully arrested and imprisoned in the infamous case, and on the eve of a scheduled ride-along between council members and the NYPD amid an ongoing City Hall battle over a police transparency law.
Mayor Eric Adams controversially vetoed two city council bills last week — one which would require more transparency in police encounters with civilians. His veto set off a showdown between Adams and the council, which reports to have the necessary votes to override his action.
Days after his veto, Adams, alongside NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, encouraged council members to attend a ride-along with police officers.
“With a bill pending that could make the city less safe, city councilmembers deserve to see firsthand how our NYPD officers are keeping the public safe and building relationships in our communities — and they deserve to understand how this bill would force those officers to spend more time filling out paperwork instead of protecting New Yorkers and keeping our streets safe,” Adams said.
That offer, while accepted by some council members, was quickly rebuffed by a bloc of Black council members who rejected “any premise that we lack an understanding of the day-to-day work of NYPD in our communities or how the people we represent are affected.”
Despite putting his name to the bloc’s statement, Salaam appeared ready to attend the ride-along scheduled for Saturday evening, that is until the previous night’s traffic stop.
“In light of this encounter and coupled with the lack of logistical details provided by Mayor Adams’ office in advance, I will no longer be participating in tonight’s scheduled ride-along with the Mayor and NYPD. It is critical that I begin to organically develop constructive relationships with all of the precincts in City Council District 9,” Salaam’s statement continued.
The NYPD posted a statement, including body-worn camera video of the interaction and a copy of the traffic stop report, commending the officer’s professional conduct. The statement explained that the officer in questioned initially stopped Salaam for driving a car with tinted windows beyond legal limits.
“As the video shows, throughout this interaction, the officer conducted himself professionally and respectfully,” the department statement said, in part. “This officer should be commended for his polite, professional, and respectful conduct and for using his discretion appropriately so the councilmember could complete his official duties.”
The police bill, known as the “ How Many Stops Act,” requires officers to publicly report on all investigative stops, including relatively low-level encounters with civilians.
Among other things, the legislation would require the NYPD to report on where the stops happen, demographic information on the person stopped, the reason for the encounter, and whether the encounter led to any use-of-force or enforcement action.
Police are currently only required to fill out reports following stops in which they question and search civilians.
The council approved the two measures in the final days of 2023 with enough votes backing both bills to overrule a mayoral veto and ensure they become law, unless several members change their stance.
An override vote has been scheduled for this coming Tuesday.
Adams rejected the bill, known as the “ How Many Stops Act,” which requires officers to publicly report on all investigative stops, including relatively low-level encounters with civilians.
Medics rushed Reed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital but he could not be saved. He lived in a Farragut Houses building around the corner from the one he was shot in.
Police respond to the shooting inside the Farragut Houses on Sands St. in Brooklyn on Sunday. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
The killer, who was wearing a mask, green jacket and black pants, ran off and has not been caught.
Cops recovered two shell casings from the scene.
In October 2022, a 37-year-old man was shot in front of the same Farragut building by a gunman who died a short time later after going into cardiac arrest when police arrested him. That shooting victim survived.
A 71-year-old woman was wounded by a stray bullet when a teen was shot outside a Brooklyn deli, police said Sunday.
The woman was standing outside the Lucky Seven Deli on Nostrand Ave. at Foster Ave. in Flatbush when she was caught in a barrage of bullets about 2 p.m. Saturday, cops said.
A stray shot struck her in the foot while more bullets struck a 17-year-old boy in the back, buttocks and thigh, cops said.
Medics took both victims to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
The woman was not the shooter’s intended target, police said.
Neighbors were unfazed by the senseless killing that claimed the life of a 23-year-old man at a Harlem housing complex on Christmas Eve, saying death and violence are a part of everyday life in the projects.
“Same s–t, different day,” said Latishia, 50, a grandmother of eight who lives at the building where the murder occurred.
Latishia spoke to the Daily News in the lobby of the Manhattanville Houses on Amsterdam Ave. near W. 131st St, where on Saturday around 5:45 p.m. she heard voices shouting in anger on the floor below her, but didn’t pay it any mind.
“You tune it out,” said Latishia, who said fights and arguments are common occurrences at the Harlem housing complex.
Suddenly two shots rang out. Latishia thought it was an action film with the volume set too high.
“My husband was like, ‘That was gunshots, baby,’” Latishia recounted.
Latishia looked down from her apartment window to find paramedics gathered around a body near the building’s entrance, a medic desperately hammering on the victim’s chest.
The New York Police Department is yet again trying to shuffle the reporters who cover them—this time to a trailer outside their headquarters. For years, reporters have worked inside police headquarters at 1 Police Plaza, in a section of the building referred to as “the Shack.” There, you’ll find a warren of individual offices occupied by several news organizations—the New YorkPost,Newsday,TheNew York Times, CBS, Gothamist/WNYC, and The New York Daily News—and, on a crowded day, about a half dozen reporters dispersed among them. Rumors that Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard—the NYPD’s chief spokesperson—wanted to relocate reporters, purportedly to make more space for NYPD units, have been circulating for months. But on Monday, the idea seemed to become a reality, when two reporters who happened to be at HQ that day got an informal tour of their new digs. They were told they’d be moving the following Monday.
Reporters’ objections to the move are not a matter of comfort. The Shack itself is “pretty disgusting,” as one police reporter noted. “It’s not the Ritz.” But having a desk inside police headquarters has offered crucial access to key players that some fear will be cut off in the move outside. “The concern is: Is this a good faith attempt to make more space for whoever they need to make more space for? Or is this a slippery slope, where we’re going to be eventually pushed out altogether from this area?” said a second police reporter. Sheppard, I’m told, has previously mentioned to reporters that he doesn’t get a fair shake from the tabloids. The move to the trailer comes “against a backdrop of complaints about the coverage of crime,” one veteran crime reporter said, which has “raised everybody’s antenna.” A third police reporter added: “Everybody feels it’s somewhat troublesome, like this is a punitive thing for negative coverage—particularly tabloid coverage.”
The rollout of the move has been a major source of frustration among police reporters, who say that DCPI has not provided an official briefing to the group. Reporters who weren’t in on Monday didn’t realize a tour was even taking place. “There’s been no direct communication with all of us at the same time about what’s happening,” said the first police reporter. The line of reasoning for the move, they added, “has been all over the place.” Whether the move actually happens, or starts to happen, on Monday is somewhat unclear, as a third police reporter told me that DCPI has pulled back on Monday due to logistical matters.
In a statement, a DCPI spokesperson said the move will begin “early next week” and disputed the idea that reporters are in the dark about the transition. “Sheppard previously met and spoke with representatives from each media outlet that occupies the existing press area inside Police Headquarters and explained that the move is simply to accommodate additional outlets that have asked to cover the NYPD in the same manner,” the spokesperson said, adding that the new location is “much larger, contains private conference rooms and bathrooms,” and is “located literally feet from the building, still very much inside the secure perimeter of One Police Plaza.” (One of the reporters I spoke to admitted the trailer was “way better” than they expected. It resembles a “semi-permanent module attached to HQ. We’d still be able to go in and out, our badges would work from what I’m told,” they said, adding, “but again, we still don’t have anything official from DCPI.”)
The DCPI spokesperson also disputed the idea that the move is in any way a response to negative coverage. “Change is sometimes difficult for people, we understand. But this is hardly punitive by any stretch of the imagination. This is a planned move—in the works since the start of the current administration—toward greater NYPD transparency, to allow more access to more reporters from more media outlets that desire to cover the police department on an increasing basis.”
It’s not the first time that the future of the Shack, which has been at 1 Police Plaza since the building was erected in the 1970s, has hung in the balance. Other commissioners have tried to evict reporters, such as in 2009, under Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The removal of the press offices seemed so assured that TheTimes wrote an entire obituary for the hub, only for department officials to backtrack on the eviction. A few months later, reporters were relocated down the hall to what is the current Shack. “Over the years, as papers and the news media sort of contracted, people in the Shack diminished,” said the veteran crime reporter. “Outlets that had four or five reporters were down to two or one; some were no longer there.”
Lawyers representing the various media organizations with offices in police HQ have been communicating with each other in light of the impending move, according to several reporters. “What can they really do? It’s the NYPD’s property,” the second police reporter noted. The media lawyers’ role in this is more to “show resistance,” said the third police reporter, “so that the next move is not out on the street.”
“Reporters should be in a newsroom collaborating with their fellow reporters, or they should be in a statehouse, in city hall, in police departments,” said the first police reporter. “Meeting and greeting and talking to people and getting the buzz. Isolating people like this is just another way of siloing the public—and that’s who we are, we’re representatives of the public. I think that they forget that.”
The roommate of a Brooklyn man beaten to death in a boozy fight with a car service driver had long tried to get the victim to give up alcohol — and waited three days for him to come home before learning of his senseless slaying.
Victim Carlos Guman and his cousin shared drinks with the driver before getting into the fatal punch-up with him, prosecutors said.
“He got drunk once in a while but didn’t bother anybody,” Raffaele Iervasi, 87, who lived with Guaman, 66, in Dyker Heights for the last two years, said of the victim.
“He’d come home and go to bed, go to work every day. I always tell him, I say ‘Carlos don’t drink! Somebody gonna catch you and he’s gonna hurt you.’ He was a big strong man. He says, ‘Nobody’s gonna touch me.’ He was built like a bulldog.”
Obtained by Daily News
Victim Carlos Guaman, 66. (Obtained by Daily News)
Early Thursday, Iervasi’s worries became reality when police say Guaman and his cousin, Gilberto Guiracocha, 52, were pummeled by car service driver Sergio Zamora Mendoza, 33, on W. 9th St. near Avenue T in Gravesend. They were being dropped off at Guiracocha’s home when the clash with the driver erupted.
Mendoza, who’s charged with manslaughter, was ordered held on $750,000 bond during his arraignment proceeding in Brooklyn Criminal Court Saturday.
Mendoza’s lawyer called the killing an act of self-defense. Guaman and his cousin were leaving a party, where both had been drinking, and asked Mendoza to drive them from “bar to bar,” defense lawyer Timothy McCubbin said.
“The defendant picked up the two of them around four in the morning and they drove to a gas station and drank alcohol together — the three of them — for around 45 minutes before continuing on their journey,” Assistant District Attorney Jordan Rossman said at Mendoza’s arraignment.
Obtained by Daily News
Carlos Guaman, 66. (Obtained by Daily News)
While at the gas station the cousins noticed how much cash the driver was carrying, according to the defense lawyer.,
The duo told Mendoza “maybe he should give them the money he has” and the younger cousin pushed and shoulder checked the driver before Guaman swung at him, McCubbin claimed.
Guaman was a devoted family man who sent money back to his wife and three adult children in Ecuador, his roommate said.
“Three days I don’t see him. I tried to call him on the phone and I didn’t receive an answer,” the roommate recounted. “And then all of a sudden I heard it on the news … He was a wonderful guy.”
Cops called to W. Ninth St. near Avenue T in Brooklyn around 4:30 a.m. Thursday found a 66-year-old man and his 52-year-old cousin sprawled on the street, cops said. (Obtained by Daily News)
Guiracocha told a friend that he and Guaman went from a party to a bar and flagged down Mendoza’s car.
“He said it was over the overcharge. He said he and his cousin, they were arguing with the driver over the overcharge,” said Guiracocha’s friend, who declined to give his name. “They were telling (Mendoza), ‘We’re gonna call the cops.’”
The friend knew Gauman well too.
“They don’t do drugs. They work,” the friend said of the cousins. “They always used to play volleyball.”
But the friend, who works as a taxi driver, understands how Mendoza could have felt threatened.
Cops called to W. Ninth St. near Avenue T in Brooklyn around 4:30 a.m. on Thursday found a 66-year-old man and his 52-year-old cousin sprawled on the street. (Obtained by Daily News)
“We feel like we’re protecting ourselves. These guys are trying to call the cops, trying to scare him. It’s two guys not one. And they’re drunk,” he said. “We (taxi drivers) go outside to work, sometimes we don’t know if we’ll come back.”
“I’m not saying what (the driver) did was right, no,” he added.
Guaman did tile work in Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey, his roommate said.
“He was very busy. He was a good professional tile man,” Iervasi said.
Obtained by Daily News
Carlos Guaman, 66. (Obtained by Daily News)
He also took on an apprentice, Cristy Rizo, 36.
“He was an excellent teacher in the art of ceramic construction,” Rizo said. “He was one of my best friends.”
Iervasi said he was still processing the loss of his roommate.
” I’m gonna miss him. He was good to me. He was a good person. I don’t know what happened,” he said. “Maybe they were drunk? Maybe they don’t want to pay the taxi driver? I don’t know what happened. How could this happen? I don’t understand.”
Regarding Mendoza, the roommate said, “He should be hung … He beat them up and left. Terrible. It’s terrible to kill someone like that.”
An infernal thief tried to walk out of Manhattan’s famed Cathedral of St. John the Divine with a $100,000 religious statue, police said Sunday.
The crook showed up at the landmark Episcopal church on Amsterdam Ave. at W. 112th St. dressed all in black about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 3, according to cops. But he didn’t have much of a plan to pull off the unholy heist.
He started to lift one of the cathedral’s statues, worth at least $100,000 but when he spotted security staff he ran off empty handed, police said.
The church, which can hold 5,000 worshipers and is touted as the world’s largest Gothic cathedral, is famed for its annual Procession of Animals.
Cops released surveillance footage of the crook in action and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down.. (DCPI)
It was ravaged by fire in 2001 and damaged again in a 2019 blaze. In December 2020, police shot and killed an apparently suicidal double-pistol waving gunman on the cathedral steps.
Cops released surveillance footage of the crook in action and asked the public’s help identifying him and tracking him down. He is describes as between 45 and 50, about 5-foot-10 and 220 pounds with a light complexion.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.
An arsonist set fire to two window tarps adorned with the Star of David outside a Brooklyn restaurant, the latest hate crime targeting Jews, police said Friday.
The incident happened at 4:08 a.m. last Saturday outside Shalom Japan, a Jewish and Japanese restaurant on S. 4th St. near Rodney St. in Williamsburg.
The suspect approached the restaurant, which was closed for the night, and can be seen on video setting the fire using a lighter before running off.
The firebug is being sought by police.
There were no injuries and the restaurant didn’t suffer any structural damage.
Police released a security camera video showing a bearded man setting fire outside a Brooklyn restaurant that was decorated with a Star of David. (NYPD)
Last month, antisemitic incidents jumped 32% to 62 compared to 47 last November. There were seven crimes against Muslims last month, compared to zero last November, and there were five incidents labeled as ethnic, which includes victims thought to be Palestinian, compared to one last November.
Anyone with information about the arsonist is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS.
An NYPD captain who commanded a Brooklyn police precinct has been charged with an assault in New Jersey that left a woman with “serious injuries,” prosecutors said Thursday.
Capt. Hariton Marachilian faces counts of kidnapping, assault, criminal restraint and criminal coercion in the Dec. 10, 2022 incident in Paterson, the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release. The most serious charge in the criminal complaint, first-degree kidnapping, under New Jersey law carries a possible penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison.
Prosecutors say they will ask that Marachilian be held while awaiting trial. He was due to appear in court in Paterson on Thursday.
Marachilian, the president of the NYPD’s Middle East & Turkic Society, was arrested by the NYPD Nov. 30 after the department learned a warrant for his arrest had been issued, said a Police Department source. He was held at Rikers Island until he was transported to New Jersey on Wednesday.
The name of Marachilian’s victim was withheld in accord with New Jersey law.
But Marachilian and a police source told the Daily News last week that the NYPD removed him as commander of the 90th Precinct in Williamsburg, stripped him of his gun and badge, and moved him to a desk job after a New Jersey woman filed an order of protection against him.
Hariton Marachilian (Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office)
The woman, a belly dancer, had performed at events for the Turkic & Middle East Society, Marachilian said. He claimed she had misinterpreted the meaning of their relationship.
”She thought it was more than what it was,” Marachilian told The News in an interview Nov. 29, the day before his arrest. The woman “found out I was still married — that’s what sparked her anger.
“She alleged a verbal dispute,” Marichilian said. “But I’m confident — my lawyer is confident — that it will be thrown out. There’s nothing there.”
Marachilian, who joined the NYPD in 2004, also told The News he had just filed his retirement papers.
Upon his arrest Nov. 30, the NYPD suspended Marachilian without pay, putting his pension and other benefits at risk if he leaves the department while still under investigation.
Lawyer Joshua Stevens, who represented Marachilian at his arraignment in New York City before he was sent to Rikers Island, said the captain “surrendered to local authorities and has been fully cooperative.”
Marachilian’s New Jersey lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.
The belly dancer Marachilian is accused of assaulting referred to requests for comment to her lawyer, who said he had no comment.
It wasn’t clear if she is the victim Marachilian allegedly attacked last December, or if the woman is someone else.
Marachilian was removed from commanding the 90th Precinct in July.
In August, the NYPD did the same to the commanding officer of the 50th Precinct in the Bronx, Capt. Filastine Srour. She moved from commanding the precinct that covered Riverdale and other sections of the western Bronx and was was transferred to an office.
Capt. Filastine Srour (NYPD)
Marachilian said Srour is like his “little sister.”
Sources said she could face departmental charges, possibly for unauthorized computer searches related to her relationship with Marachilian.
Srour didn’t respond to a request for comment and Chris Monahan, head of the Captains Endowment Association, said he had no comment on either Srour or Marachilian.
In his phone interview with The News, Marachilian said he wanted to retire to spend more time with his family — not because he did anything wrong.
“If there was an issue I would have left right away, when I was modified,” he said. “I’m leaving to raise my kids, basically.
“In the end, the only people who remember you work late are your kids.”
NYPD
Obtained by Daily News
Captain Sharon Balli
Marachilian has had disciplinary and legal troubles related to his police career.
In 2022, another cop, Capt. Sharon Balli, settled for $800,000 a lawsuit in which she accused a top police commander of not investigating claims of sexual harassment she made against other cops, including Marachilian.
Balli claimed that when Marachilian was assigned to Manhattan South Narcotics, Marachilian told her she needed “more sex in her life.” “Sex is good for stress,” Marachilian allegedly told her.
