Police Blotter
19TH PRECINCT
Assault and pepper
Two men stealing purses from Designer
Revival, at 324 E. 81st St.,
sprayed an employee with an unknown
substance before hitting her with a bag,
police said.
On Aug. 6, around 5:30 p.m., a
23-year-old employee reportedly
opened a display case at the luxury
handbag store to show two potential
customers, a man and a woman, some
merchandise.
Once the display case was open, the
man sprayed what offi cers believe was
either mace or pepper spray in the face
of the young employee. The couple was
able to grab four Chanel handbags —
a white shoulder bag, a white quiltedleather
bag, a burgundy leather bag
and a black patent leather bag — worth
about $15,800. While fl eeing, the
woman swung one of the bags at the
worker, striking her in the face.
Bag grab
On Sun., Aug. 4, a woman was
pushed to the ground by someone trying
to steal her purse.
According to police, the 26-yearold
victim was walking northbound
on Third Ave. when an unknown man
pushed her from behind as she passed
E. 71st St.
Once on the woman was on the
ground, the assailant grabbed her Rag
& Bone purse, worth $400, and fl ed
westbound on E. 71st. St.
The young woman sustained only
minor injuries to her knees and legs.
The purse contents included a $100
Kate Spade wallet, a $50 pair of Topshop
sunglasses, her apartment keys, a
New York State driver’s license, a gray
jumpsuit, a Barclays Uber credit card
and a PNC credit card.
Xanax stickup
On Aug.12, a man tried to steal Xanax
and cash from an Upper East Side
CVS, police said.
The thief entered the store at 305 E.
86th St. and went directly to the pharmacy.
He then passed a note to a pharmacists
stating, “Give me your Xanax
and cash, I have a gun.”
The pharmacist gave the man two
bottles of 2 mg pills of Alprazolam, a
generic form of Xanax, worth $464.44.
The perp left the location without displaying
any weapon.
Not for real-tor
On Aug. 12, a 73-year-old man complained
to police that an alleged realtor
that he wired money had vanished.
According to police, the E. 62nd St.
resident made a $2,000 wire transfer
to the suspect through the digital payment
app Zelle.
The alleged realtor promised to rent
the 73-year-old an apartment after getting
payment, but did not show up for a
scheduled viewing after the transfer.
20TH PRECINCT
Bad karma
On July 16, around 5 p.m. a 25-yearold
Upper West Side woman placed her
belongings in a locker at Core Power
Yoga, at 2030 Broadway, before attending
a class.
According to offi cers, after the yoga
class ended, she returned to the locker
and found all of her credit cards were
missing from her wallet. She quickly
checked her Citibank online account
and found that three purchases had
been made with her card, for $869.91
and $433.32 at two separate Apple
Stores and $53.42 at E.A.T, at 1064
Madison Ave.
24TH PRECINCT
Caution! Angry guy!
Police said that on Thurs., Aug. 8,
around 3:30 p.m., a man was arrested
after he hit someone with a “Caution
Wet Floor” sign. The 59-year-old assailant
allegedly struck a 67-year-old
man during an argument inside 330 W.
95th St., cutting his forehead.
Angry art
An outraged customer threw a piece
of art at a man working at the Ran Art
Gallery, according to police.
On Aug. 8, at 10:25 a.m., a 32-yearold
woman inquired about a piece of
art in the gallery, at 2470 Broadway,
at W. 92nd St. An employee, 68, said
the woman became irate and started
to curse at him. The woman threw a
piece of art outside of the store, then
punched the senior in the right cheek.
Offi cers arrested the woman. The man
refused medical attention.
Alejandra
O’Connell-Domenech
Bomb-scare suspect
caused subway panic
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Police said they had made an arrest
Saturday morning of a homeless
man in connection with Friday’s
incidents where two rice cookers were
left in the Fulton St. subway station and
another one was left in Chelsea.
Larry Griffi n, 26, originally from
West Virginia, was collared in a Bronx
apartment after police responded to
a call for “an apparent overdose,” the
New York Post reported. A second
man was also taken into custody there,
the Post said.
Police said Griffi n was charged with
three counts of placing a false bomb in
the second degree.
One rice cooker was left on the platform
of the 2 and 3 lines at the Fulton
St. station in Lower Manhattan and another
was left on the mezzanine level.
Police were notifi ed by a 911 call of the
cookers around 7 a.m. As the Bomb
Squad responded, straphangers were
sent scrambling and the morning commute
was snarled.
A third rice cooker was found about
an hour later in Chelsea, at W. 16th St.
and Seventh Ave., reportedly near a
garbage can.
Police determined all three devices
were safe. As they were searching for
the suspect, cops released photos of
Griffi n in the Fulton St. station with a
shopping cart allegedly containing one
of the cookers.
According to news reports, he has
previous arrests in West Virginia for
drug and weapons possession and also
for showing a sexual video to a minor.
The Post reported that the video “involved
him having sex with a chicken.”
The tabloid quoted a West Virginia
police source saying, “There is some
type of deviant behavior there, obviously.
In technical terms, there’s something
that ain’t right with him.”
Three years ago, a pressure cooker
bomb that was left by an Islamic terrorist
in Chelsea on W. 23rd St. between
Sixth and Seventh Aves. exploded,
injuring 31 people. A second similar
undetonated device was found four
blocks away.
Chelsea woman dies
after pickup truck hit
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
A Chelsea woman died of her injuries
on Tuesday after being
hit by a turning pickup truck
three days earlier.
Police said Melissa McClure, 67, of
117 W. 15th St., and another woman,
age 59, were crossing W. 15th St. at
Sixth Ave., in the west crosswalk, from
north to south, on Sat., Aug. 10, around
9 p.m., when they were hit by the front
of the vehicle, knocking them down.
Police said the blue 2011 Chevrolet
Silverado was traveling up Sixth Ave.
and trying to make a left turn onto
westbound 15th St.
Offi cers found both women with
head trauma. E.M.S. responded and
transported both victims to Bellevue
Hospital. The younger woman was
treated for a laceration to the back of
the head and was in stable condition.
McClure was admitted in critical
condition and succumbed to her injuries
on Tues., Aug. 13.
The pickup truck’s driver remained
at the scene and was not injured. There
are no arrests and the investigation remains
ongoing.
The Daily News reported that Mc-
Clure grew up in Mississippi and moved
to New York in her early twenties. She
attended Parsons School of Design and
later worked in fashion. She had two
cats, Momo and Sriracha, who lived
with her at her apartment in Chelsea.
The News ID’d the other woman who
was hit as McClure’s sister, who was
visiting town.
Two days before McClure was hit,
Iris Crespo, a 77-year-old Upper West
Sider was fatally struck by a yellow cab
when she was crossing in the crosswalk
at W. 22nd St. at Eighth Ave.
On Aug. 5, Michael Collopy, 60, of
170 W. 23rd St., succumbed to his injuries
after he was hit by a cyclist on
July 31 while standing in the bike lane
at Sixth Ave. and 23rd St. The cyclist
did not remain at the scene.
On June 24, Robyn Hightman, a
20-year-old bike messenger, was killed
near the same spot as Collopy when the
cyclist was hit by a truck while riding in
traffi c at Sixth Ave. and W. 23rd St.
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