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Police Blotter, Week of November 16, 2017

cuffs
The Upper West Side crime blotter

Uber driver killed 

A recreational hockey player outside Chelsea Piers late on Nov. 11 used his hockey stick to club an elderly Uber driver, who then crashed his car a few blocks later and died.

Police said officers responded to a 911 call just before midnight of a vehicle collision at West and Horatio Sts. Before the accident, Richard Tolk, 68, of West New York, N.J., was driving his 2010 Toyota Camry southbound on 11th Ave. He stopped at W. 20th St. and Kohji Kosugi, 39, who was walking in the crosswalk, tapped the hood of the car with his hockey stick, according to police. Tolk, a grandfather of three, got out of his car to confront Kosugi, who then struck him in the head with the stick. After Tolk fell, according to witnesses, Kosugi kicked him in the chest, before fleeing on foot.

Tolk got back in his car and continued driving southbound, ultimately crashing into a cement median barrier. He was rushed to Lenox Hill Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Tuesday, the New York Post reported that Kosugi confessed to whacking the Uber hack with the stick. But his lawyer maintained Tolk was the “initial aggressor [and] triggered the outcome by failing to observe the rules of the road.” Kosugi was charged with first-degree manslaughter.

According to the Post, Kosugi holds a medical degree from St. George’s University in Grenada and works as a waiter at Nakamura NYC Japanese restaurant, at Delancey St. near Clinton St.

 

Lockout lout

According to police, a woman was locked out of her home at 39 Bank St. by her ex-husband, who also stole her wallet, on Tues., Oct. 31, at 7:30 p.m. The man locked her out of the apartment after an altercation.

When their 7-year-old child opened the door, the suspect allegedly pushed the victim down, grabbed her neck and threw a vase on the floor. After he left, the woman found that her iPhone 7, plus her wallet, with her credit cards and $200 cash, were missing. No charges were made on the cards.

John Doe, 39, was arrested Mon., Nov. 6, for felony grand larceny.

 

Not cool

A manager of the Dairy Queen at 54 W. 14th St. sent an employee on a bank drop last year but the worker vanished, police said. The incident happened Tues., Nov. 1, 2016, at 1:45 p.m. The female manager, 46, told police the employee never came back or answered phone calls or returned messages. The worker had left with $3,640 in cash to deposit.

Police finally arrested Santos Correa, 43, on Tues., Nov. 7, for felony grand larceny.

 

Bobst thief

A laptop left unattended at New York University’s Bobst Library, at 70 Washington Square South, on Sat., Sept. 30, at 4:30 p.m., was stolen, police said. The computer’s owner, a 21-year-old woman, walked away from it for 30 minutes and when she returned it was gone.

A witness said he saw two men with backpacks moving around the area. The Apple MacBook Pro, worth $3,000, was tracked to 2 Washington Square Village.

Kazz Archibald, 22, was arrested Tues., Nov. 7 for felony grand larceny.

 

Crime cycle

Police said a man’s motorcycle was stolen in front of 68 Bank St. on Wed., Nov. 8, at 2:58 a.m. Police conducted a canvass of the area and spotted a man next to the motorcycle, smoking marijuana on the sidewalk. Upon a search, he was found to be in possession of a knife and a stolen credit card.

Mohamed Kouyate, 21, was arrested for felony auto grand larceny.

 

East River leg

On Thurs., Nov. 9, around 11:45 a.m., police responded to a 911 call for a human leg found floating in the river off of the F.D.R. Drive at E. Sixth St. Officers found the body part bobbing against the rocks at the spot. Emergency Service Unit police removed it from the water. The Medical Examiner will conduct further analysis and the investigation is ongoing.

 

Fatal hit-and-run

Fri., Nov. 10, around 3:30 a.m., police responding to a call of a pedestrian struck by a car at Delancey and Clinton Sts., near the Williamsburg Bridge entrance, found a 49-year-old male, unconscious and unresponsive, in the roadway, with severe head trauma.

EMS medics pronounced him dead at the scene. The Police Department’s Highway District’s Collision Investigation Squad determined the man was hit by an unknown vehicle that fled the scene.

The New York Post identified the victim as Johnny, a homeless man who used a wheelchair.

“He’s always out there but he don’t bother nobody,” a local man told the Post. There are no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.

 

Tabia C. Robinson
and Lincoln Anderson