Security gods
Security guards at an Atlantic Avenue supermarket went above and beyond the call of duty on Feb. 5 when they chased a middle-aged purse-snatcher down the street and detained him until police could arrive.
The normal peace and quiet of the chain grocery store, located near Fort Greene Place, was broken at around 6 pm, when a 51-year-old hoodlum grabbed a woman’s purse and ran out of the store. The woman yelled, and the security guards sprang into action, chasing the man into the street.
The thief — no longer a spring chicken, by any stretch — slowed down about a block into the chase, and the guards caught up with him at the corner of Hanson Place, recovering the purse and holding the man until cops came.
Ripped off
A DeKalb Avenue restaurant and bar lost two of its main assets — booze and loud music — when a burglar made off with more than $4,300 worth of liquor and sound equipment in broad daylight on Feb. 7.
The eatery, near Clermont Avenue, hadn’t opened for dinner when the robbery occurred. An employee had been in the back room at around 1 pm and noticed nothing wrong, but an hour later, the window was open and someone had made off with a big haul: a set of speakers, $2,000 worth of social lubricant, and numerous amplifiers.
Park pummel
A man waiting for a friend in Fort Greene Park was accosted and violently beaten by two men who demanded money on Feb. 7.
The 27-year-old victim was sitting on the steps near the corner of Myrtle and North Portland avenues at around noon when two guys he had never seen before approached him and asked for money.
The man said he didn’t have any, but the thugs’ got more insistent, so he decided he should just leave and meet his friend later. The hooligans didn’t want him to leave, however. One of them grabbed his neck and pushed him back down, and both of them started punching and kicking him, knocking him to the ground. They went through his pockets and took a Sprint cellphone, $50, and a white metal pendant.
Tool time
A handyman suffered a big loss on Feb. 7, when a perp broke into his Willoughby Avenue basement while he slept and stole $3,000 worth of tools.
The man didn’t hear any disturbances while he was in his apartment, which is near Vanderbilt Avenue, but when he came downstairs around 9 am the next morning, he found the gate to the basement busted open. The perp had cleaned out the cellar, taking not just a $500 saw and an assortment of other less valuable saws, drills and hand tools, but also the boombox the man listened to while working on projects.
The total value of the property was $3,094, the man said.
Cell snatch
A teen walking along Lafayette Avenue on Feb. 6 was mugged by a crook who didn’t want to pick on anyone his own size.
The 15-year-old victim was strolling with a female companion near Fort Greene Place at around 3:30 pm when a man in a green jacket came up to them and asked the kid, “What are you listening to?”
The conversation took an abrupt bad turn at that moment, as the perp punched the boy in the face and grabbed the Nokia cellphone from his pocket. Neither the victim nor the witness got a good look at the thug, who ran away down Fort Greene Place.
