GREENWICH VILLAGE — A brazen butt-grabber groped a woman in Greenwich Village in full view of an NYPD officer, police said.
A 22-year-old woman was outside (le) poisson rouge at 158 Bleecker St. about 3:55 a.m. on Sept. 19 when David Coleman, 36, walked up to her and slapped and grabbed her butt, police said.
Coleman was arrested and charged with forcible touching, sexual abuse in the third degree, and criminal possession of a controlled substance for a small Ziploc bag of alleged cocaine that police said they found in his right front pants pocket.
Information on Coleman's attorney was not immediately available. All three charges he faces are misdemeanors. (le) poisson rouge did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Other notable incidents in the 6th Precinct include:
► A shouting match escalated into a full-blown brawl when a man was bashed in the head with a baseball bat in front of the Village Underground, police said.
Police said Stanley Sacarello, 32, was arguing with a 37-year-old man in front of the music venue at 130 West Third St. about 4 a.m. on Sept. 16.
Police said the victim told them that the verbal dispute quickly got physical, and Sacarello walloped the victim in the head with a small wooden baseball bat, leaving him with a gash on his head.
Police arrived to find the baseball bat broken in half, they said.
It was unclear if the victim requested or received medical treatment; the fire department had no record of anyone being taken to a hospital.
A baseball bat was taken into evidence at the scene, police said. Sacarello was arrested and charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
Both are felony charges. Sacarello's attorney declined to comment. An employee at the Village Underground reached by phone said she did not know anything about the incident, and that the venue closes nightly at 4 a.m.
► A police officer caught a shoplifter with four electric toothbrushes, after the officer watched the shoplifter "case" stores for several blocks.
The officer said he spotted Michael Cora, 49, about 1:45 p.m. on Sept. 18 casing multiple stores along Fifth Avenue between 18th Street and 14th Street, and then turn right onto West 14th Street and head towards Sixth Avenue, checking out more stores along the way. Police said the officer watched Cora go into the Rite Aid at 501 Sixth Ave. carrying an empty brown paper bag.
The officer saw Cora come out of the store without stopping at the cash registers, police said, and when the officer stopped Cora and checked the bag, it held four electric toothbrushes and no receipt.
Police said they also found a box cutter in Cora's right front pants pocket.
Cora was arrested and charged with petit larceny, possession of burglary tools, and criminal possession of stolen property. Cora's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
► An officer curious about an object protruding from a man's pocket stopped him in a subway station, only to find he was carrying two knives and various drug paraphernalia, police said.
The officer stopped Brandon Shand, 22, about 9:45 p.m. on Sept. 18 inside the subway station at the northeast corner of Sixth Avenue and West 14th Street when he noticed what appeared to be a white metal clip sticking out of Shand's front left pants pocket.
Police said the officer patted Shand down and discovered a gravity knife. Police also said they found Xanax, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and an electronic scale on Shand, as well as $558 in cash.
Shand was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon, which is a felony, as well as two misdemeanor charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a weapon. He was also charged with criminal possession of marijuana, which is a violation. Information on Shand's attoney could not immediately be obtained.
► Police stopped a man driving recklessly the wrong way down a West Village street then found large knives in his car, they said.
Police saw Arneil Jones, 44, driving against traffic, fail to yield the right of way at an intersection and then pass another car on its left, they said.
Police said they stopped Jones at the southeast corner of 14th and Hudson streets about 12:20 a.m. on Sept. 20, and seized a large gravity knife from his glove compartment, which police said was open. Police said Jones told them he uses the knife for protection.
When they patted him down, they found another gravity knife in his right front pants pocket, police said. They took both knives into evidence, along with a pill. The brand or type of pill was unclear.
Jones was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a weapon. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
