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NYPD Deploys SkyWatch Tower to Site of Rutgers Street Shooting

By Allegra Hobbs | November 17, 2016 5:46pm
 A SkyWatch tower now sits at the intersection of Rutgers and Madison Streets.
A SkyWatch tower now sits at the intersection of Rutgers and Madison Streets.
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DNAinfo/Allegra Hobbs

LOWER EAST SIDE — Police have stationed a mobile watch tower at the intersection of Rutgers and Madison streets in response to a shooting on Nov. 9 in front of the LaGuardia Houses in hopes the police surveillance will help deter crime.

Police brought in the SkyWatch tower, which had previously been posted near the Samuel Gompers Houses on Pitt Street, days after a 30-year-old man was shot in the leg around 4:50 a.m. while walking near 45 Rutgers St., according to authorities.

The victim, who was transported to Bellevue Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, told police he saw two men fleeing the scene. The suspect he believes carried out the shooting wore a red hoodie, according to a police report. 

No arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon.

A local activist who heads a tenant organization for a nearby housing complex said the ramped up security is sorely needed at the location, which has a history of violent incidents.

"That corner is a problem and a magnet for crime and it has historically been one of the worst in the city," said Trever Holland, president of the tenant association at Two Bridges Tower. "I am curious to see if this has any effect on the crime in the area."

Another man was shot in the leg in the rear of the LaGuardia Houses on Jefferson Street last year. Police said there has been a spate of robberies in the area as well, though Holland estimates many incidents, which he hears of from residents, go unreported. 

One resident of the LaGuardia Houses said he felt the tower does make a difference in thwarting crime.

"It's only common sense," said the resident, who declined to share his name. "Because with the present police activity, nobody's gonna do something."

But a clerk at an adjacent deli said that while the surveillance doesn't bother him, it also doesn't make him feel any safer.

"It doesn't make any difference to me," said the man, who also declined to share his name, noting he was skeptical the scant number of officers on duty would be effective.

"Is he Spider-Man? Is he going to jump around? He's one man sitting in that tower," he said.

In fact, there are generally two officers posted at the tower, according to police — one in the tower, which is usually elevated but on Thursday afternoon was lowered, and one on the ground.