Not-guilty plea
Carl Knox, also known as Abdul Hakeem, pleaded not guilty on Thurs., July 19, to murder in the June 9 stabbing death of Corey Capers in front of 737 E. Fifth St. Knox, 47, said he was chased by a group of men, including Capers, who lunged at him with a box cutter.
The incident started with a violent argument between Knox and his girlfriend in Knox’s apartment. The defendant said his girlfriend menaced him with a knife and her granddaughter shouted to the group of men outside, who chased him when he fled from the apartment. Knox said he disarmed Capers and slashed at his pursuers in self-defense.
Cold-case murder
Edwin Alcaide, 53, an East Village resident, was arrested Thurs., July 19, for the 1987 New Year’s murder of Lissette Torres, 19, whose body was found with multiple stab wounds in Brooklyn under the Gowanus Expressway. Cold-case detectives began focusing on the suspect, described as a habitual felon, 18 months ago and arrested him as he was about to report to his Manhattan parole officer.
A DNA match from fingernail evidence was the clinching evidence, according to law enforcement sources. Detectives investigating the case in 1987 had interviewed Alcaide but did not have enough evidence to charge him.
Bite and kick
Police arrested two women suspects in a shoplifting spree that turned nasty in the H&M department store, 515 Broadway, around 1:50 p.m. Wed., July 18. Four suspects put 11 items of clothing in a foil-lined shopping bag and tried to walk out without paying, police said. Shaday Griggs, 17, and Tyshoe Conway, 17, who were apprehended, bit and kicked the security guards. Two accomplices, a man and a woman in their 20s, escaped.
Greenhouse reopens
A patron of Greenhouse, the club at 150 Varick St., told police that someone bumped him in the club around 3:15 a.m. Mon., July 16, and stole his iPhone. The club, which was ordered closed June 18 after a brawl in the annex next door, reopened two weeks ago.
Strange sensation
A New Jersey woman told police she had been “getting a sensation that someone was hovering behind her” while she was shopping in Scholastic Books, 557 Broadway, around 2 p.m. Wed., July 16. She soon discovered that her backpack was open and her wallet, with $40 in cash and various credit cards, was stolen.
Lost bags and wallets
A California visitor to Aroma Espresso Bar, 145 Greene St., on Sun., July 15, changed tables around 4:30 p.m. but left his bag behind. He returned to the old table a short time later but the bag — with books, an iPod and a laptop computer with a total value of $2,690 — was gone.
A Maryland woman shopping at a store at Canal St. and Broadway around 4:45 p.m. Sat., July 21, felt someone bump her and discovered that her cell phone and her wallet with her marriage license had been stolen.
A woman talking on her cell phone while walking on W. Houston St. at Wooster St. around 2:30 a.m. Sun., July 15, had the phone ripped from her hand by two thieves who came up from behind on both sides and took her bag as well.
Police arrested Andres Lane, 22, around 11:15 p.m. Thurs., July 12, after a woman, 24, told employees of Karaoke Boho, 186 W. Fourth St., that the suspect stole her wallet, put it down the front of his pants and walked out of the place. Witnesses stopped the suspect outside the karaoke bar and held him for police, who charged him with larceny. Two of Lane’s accomplices were not apprehended, police said.
Open and shut
A woman patron of the New York Sports Club at 503 Broadway went for a workout around 8:15 p.m. Thurs., July 12, but failed to lock her locker and returned to find her bag, with her designer sunglasses and silver necklace, had been stolen.
Cab sharing
A visitor from Sweden who shared his cab with a woman at W. Broadway and Canal St. around 4:35 a.m. Sun., July 15, felt her dipping into his pocket and taking his wallet and iPhone, police said. He demanded the return of his property and when she refused, ordered the driver to stop at the First Police Precinct at Varick St. and Ericsson Place. Police found the phone and his wallet on the floor of the cab and charged Janell Johnson, 26, with larceny.
Forged documents
Police arrested Serafin Morales, 29, at 5:40 p.m. Fri., July 13, for trying to jump the turnstile at the I.N.D. subway station on Sixth Ave. at W. Fourth St. He was also charged with possession of a forged instrument, a fake ID of the Mexican Consulate and five forged credit cards.
Police arrested Norberto Rodriguez, 32, for urinating on the sidewalk in front of 125 Christopher St. at 3:50 a.m. Sat., July 14. They also charged him with possession of a forged instrument, a U.S. Permanent Resident Card (“green card”) in someone else’s name.
Accident compounded
A man who had to leave his car at Canal and Hudson Sts. after an accident around 1 a.m. Sun., July 22, discovered later that $1,200 in cash had been stolen from the top of the car’s front console. Police said the tow-truck operator told them he found the car closed and locked when he first arrived at the scene. But he was called away on another tow job and returned at 8:50 a.m. to find the car door open.
— Albert Amateau
