Home improvement
A renegade handyman took matters into his own hands at the Lowe’s Hardware Store, getting behind the wheel of a forklift and passing pallets onto a shady customer in two separate incidents in November.
Apparently desperate to make some home repairs, the buyer simply pulled up his truck, paid cash to the forklift driver, and sneaked off with the assorted construction material valued at over $5,500.
The Nov. 4 and Nov. 19 heist from the hardware mega-store, which is on Second Avenue between 10th and 12th streets, was reported hours after the second incident.
Bungled burg
A clumsy burglar spent an hour locked up in the Fifth Avenue Key Food before being locked up in the slammer on Nov. 18.
The blunder began around 1 am at the supermarket, which is between Union and President streets, when the criminal broke into the grocer but was unable to get himself out. In addition, his flashlights, screwdrivers, and bolt cutter provided plenty of evidence for cops.
Heated debate
An argument between two men culminated in a gunshot to the thigh on Nov. 17.
Cops say that two men were in a verbal dispute at around 7 pm near the corner of Warren Street and Third Avenue at about 7 pm when one of the men pulled a gun and fired it into his 27-year-old victim’s thigh.
The victim was taken to Lutheran Medical Center, while his assailant fled.
Medical trouble
An opportunistic thief snatched a woman’s wallet from an exam room in the ER while she stepped out to have other medical work done at New York Methodist Hospital on Nov. 17.
The victim told cops that she realized her visit to the hospital had taken a turn for the worse upon returning from the other examination at around 2:30 pm, where she found her pocketbook overturned and her wallet missing credit cards and $30.
It’s the latest incident at the hospital, which is on Sixth Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. Just last week, an employee’s purse was pilfered from beneath her desk.
Grand thefts auto
At least three thieves wanted a new ride for the holiday season last week. Here’s a round-up:
• A thief jacked a lightning-fast Yamaha motor bike from Sterling Place between Seventh and Flatbush avenues sometime between 9 pm on Nov. 14 and 9 pm on Nov. 17.
• A 1993 Honda Civic disappeared from its parking spot on Plaza Street West between Berkeley Place and Union Street after its owner had left it there for a week. The owner discovered the crime at around 1:30 am on Nov. 17.
• A 2006 black Acura that had been parked on Union Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues at 8:30 am on Nov. 19 was gone three hours later when the owner tried to retrieve it.
— Stephen Brown
