WEST BRIGHTON — A man allegedly punched a police officer in the face and crushed his glasses in his hand as the NYPD tried to clear a rowdy crowd at Sunday's St. Patrick's Day parade, prosecutors said.
Nicholas McGowan, 19, pushed the officer with his shoulder as he tried to disperse the crowd at the corner of Forest and Bard avenues around 12:15 p.m., according to court papers.
McGowan then punched the officer in the face, took his eyeglasses off and crushed them in his hand, according to court papers.
The officer was taken to Richmond University Medical Center for a cut above his eye, police said.
McGowan — who police said was carrying a gravity knife — was charged with assault, resisting arrest, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon, the Staten Island District Attorney's office said.
McGowan's lawyer, John Esposito, had no comment for the story.
Other notable crimes in Staten Island include:
► A man arrested last month for drunken driving was picked up again after officers from the Gang Squad found he was running a "drug den" in his apartment — located directly across the street from Staten Island Criminal Court, a law enforcement source said.
Barry Sepulveda, 28, had crack and heroin inside his Targee Street apartment, which police found while executing a search warrant on Feb. 27, around 6:30 a.m., they said.
Sepulveda was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia, the District Attorney's office said.
Sepulveda had been arrested on Feb. 21 and charged with driving while intoxicated after a police officer clocked him driving at more than 100 miles-per-hour on a Staten Island highway, according to court papers.
He has multiple prior arrests, officials said, including a drug possession arrest in 2009, according to the state's Department of Corrections.
Court papers list Sepulveda as a member of the Latin Kings.
His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
► A Brooklyn man used a credit card that wasn't linked to his account to buy $12,416.94 worth of MacBook laptops from various stores, prosecutors said.
Steven Coby, 28, called Santander Bank over the phone and claimed that he was the account holder for the credit card, adding that it had been stolen and asking them to send a new one to a Staten Island FedEx, according to court papers.
When Coby got the replacement card, he used it to buy four MacBooks from several Apple stores in Manhattan and the P.C. Richard & Son at 2399 Richmond Ave. on Jan. 14 and 15, according to court papers.
While buying the laptops, Coby showed workers a Massachusetts driver's license in the name of the card owner, court papers said.
Coby was arrested on Feb. 27 and charged with identity theft, forgery, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny, according to the District Attorney's office.
He has two prior arrests in Long Island on charges of identity theft and criminal possession of a forged instrument in January, according to online court records.
His lawyer, Catherine Sam, had no comment for the story.
► A search warrant by Gang Squad officers in a Castleton Avenue apartment turned up a gun, ammo and PCP, prosecutors said.
On Jan. 15, officers executed a warrant at Nicholas Hartley's apartment and found a .40 caliber gun, ammo for it and 12 packs of PCP wrapped in tin foil, according to court papers.
Hartley, 32, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, possession of ammunition, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia, the District Attorney's office said.
Hartley's lawyer, Catherine Sam, had no comment on the case.
► A Staten Island man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated Sunday, prosecutors said.
Christopher Lorenzo, 34, was pulled over after he didn't signal for a lane change and police smelled a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, according to court papers.
Lorenzo was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving while ability impaired, according to the District Attorney's office.
A lawyer for Lorenzo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
