Daily Archives: May 23, 2019

Teens arrested for mugging senior outside Stuyvesant Town

Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman at the 13th precinct’s most recent Community Council meeting (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Police have caught two teenagers who were wanted for robbing an elderly woman outside Stuyvesant Town earlier this month. Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman told neighbors that the pair had been caught during the 13th Precinct Community Council’s most recent meeting this past Tuesday.

Hellman said that the victim, who is in her 70s, was walking to her apartment on East 19th Street between Second and Third Avenue on Saturday, May 11 around 10 p.m. when the 17-year-old boy punched her in the face and knocked her to the ground before stealing her bag.

“We went to see her and she had a significant black eye,” he said. “Luckily nothing was fractured. I spoke to the woman when we went to visit her and she said she walks around the neighborhood all the time and has lived here for 20 plus years, sometimes walking around later at night. It really hurts me to think that people can feel unsafe like that. We don’t have that often but it’s very concerning.”

The teens were caught at the corner of First Avenue and East 14th Street on Saturday, May 18 around 1 a.m. by plainclothes officers who were patrolling the area, Hellman said.

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Senior killed by delivery truck in Union Square

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Police reported that a 76-year-old man was killed by a delivery truck in Union Square on Tuesday morning.

Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman said at the 13th Precinct Community Council’s meeting this past Tuesday that the victim, James Buzzell, was outside his apartment on East 16th Street near Union Square West when he was struck.

Police said that the truck was attempting to park in the parking lane when the driver struck Buzzell. Hellman said that the driver was delivering flour to one of the nearby bakeries when he hit Buzzell while backing up. Hellman noted that the driver was not at fault, although the NYPD noted that the investigation is still ongoing.

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Third time’s the charm for Stuyvesant Town flea

Playground 9 was bustling with vendors and shoppers at the Stuyvesant Town Flea Market this past Saturday. See Town & Village’s website for more photos of the event. (Photos by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

After two failed attempts earlier this month due to rain, the Stuy Town flea market finally had its day in the sun last weekend with hundreds of residents searching for hidden treasures from their neighbors.

The market was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 4, and was rescheduled to the following day because of the weather, although when it quickly became clear that May 5 would be a washout as well, management postponed the event to last Saturday with fingers crossed and another slew of possible rain dates. But the additional raindates proved unnecessary as the weather cooperated this past weekend, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid to high 70s.

General manager Rick Hayduk said that it seemed like a number of vendors who reserved a spot for the original date never alerted management that they wouldn’t be able to make the new date that was scheduled due to the rain, leaving the spot empty on the day of the market, but he said that the number of no-shows was still similar to that of last year.

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