61st Precinct
Sheepshead Bay—Homecrest—
Manhattan Beach—Gravesend
Pocketbook pummeling
Cops arrested a man who they say stalked a 62-year-old woman before punching her in the face with a closed fist on Avenue V on June 29.
The victim told police she was walking to the bus stop near Nostrand Avenue at 6:50 am when she noticed a man watching her. She tightened her hold on her purse when she felt him run up behind her, and kept a vice-like grip on the bag even as the man pushed her down and hit her so hard in the face that she was left with a bloody nose and her left eye swollen shut, police reported.
Hair-brained scheme
A hair-grabbing fiend chased a woman down Avenue W on July 1, grabbed her locks, and stole her cellphone before disappearing into the night.
Authorities said the woman was walking home at 10:15 pm when the man approached her and said nothing. His presence scared the victim, and she ran down the street, cops stated.
The unidentified man caught up to her, grabbed a fistful of hair, took the phone out of her left hand, and fled down E. 23rd Street, according to the police report.
Home unimprovement
Police are on the lookout for an unidentified man who they suspect may be behind a recent string of water meter and piping robberies in the neighborhood. Here’s the rundown:
• An unidentified handy homewrecker stole a copper pipe and a water meter from an E. 16th Street house on June 21.
The homeowner returned to his abode near Avenue V at 2 pm to find the items missing.
• Multiple water pipes were removed three days later, on June 24, from a private home located just a few blocks away, at E. 19th Street and Avenue T.
The homeowner said she had been staying elsewhere with a sick relative. But when she returned home, she found her rear door open and the lights on.
• A water meter valued at $2,000 was stolen from a vacant house at E. 12th Street and Avenue S on July 1.
The owner came to check on the house and discovered that the lock from the basement door had been removed.
• A man claimed to be from the Triboro Water Company when he was found cutting copper pipes from an E. 17th Street basement by the homeowner on July 3.
The woman told officials she had heard loud banging at 2 pm and went to investigate, finding herself face-to-face with a strange man who had cut four six-foot length copper pipes from the home near Avenue U.
He left the pipes once the woman confronted him and fled the scene before police arrived.
— Eric Faynberg
