Volume 16 • Issue 37 | February 13 – 19, 2004
Police blotter
Subway slash conviction
Edwin Santiago, 31, was convicted on Thurs. Feb. 6 of slashing Yael Leopold, a 22-year-old Amherst College senior, in January 2003 while she was waiting for a train at the Chambers St. subway station. The victim was visiting friends in the city when she was slashed about the head and hand, requiring 70 stitches in her scalp and reconstructive surgery on her thumb. The defendant’s lawyer, Seth D. Gross, contends Santiago was mistakenly identified and plans an appeal.
Bridge jumper
An East Village man, last seen walking the suspension cable of the Brooklyn Bridge before noon on Thurs. Feb. 5, was taken from the East River by Harbor Patrol police. Phillip Hutchinson, 56, of 733 E. Fifth St., was pronounced dead at 12:20 p.m. at NYU Downtown Hospital, police said.
Soho robbery
Three women were arrested for third degree robbery and possession of stolen property at 6:49 p.m. Sun. Feb. 8 in connection with a shoplifting incident at a boutique on Broadway between Spring and Prince Sts., police said. The suspects, Ralene Caton, 30, Rachael Caton, 23, and Latoya Holt, 24, struggled with a security guard before they were arrested two blocks away from the shop, police said.
Arrest protestors
Port Authority police arrested four protestors, members of the No Police State Coalition, on Feb. 7 when they refused to follow a police order to move from in front of the World Trade Center PATH station. The protestors, Dennis Griggs, Joel Meyers, Geoffrey Blank and Jason Blank, were holding a sign reading “The Bush Regime Engineered 9/11.” They received a summons to appear in court on March 18. Coalition members held a sign with the same message on Sept. 11, 2003 on West St. and quarreled with pedestrians near the W.T.C. site who objected. No arrests were reported in connection with the sign last September.
—Albert Amateau
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