Manhattan
What a beast! Cops busted a Harlem man after he was caught on camera brutally kicking puppy at an East Harlem housing project.
Irving Sanchez, 46, who cops say has numerous drug arrests, dragged the pit bull, named Max, across the elevator floor in the Robert Wagner Houses on First Avenue near East 120th Street before slapping the pup with a leash as he cowered in the corner, police said.
The video, made at about 9 p.m. Sunday, then allegedly shows Sanchez repeatedly kicking Max. Sanchez was charged yesterday with aggravated cruelty to animals. Max, who wasn’t badly injured, was taken in by the ASPCA.
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A hit-and-miss serial robber has struck nine times so far within the last month, cops say. Pretending to have a gun in his shirt, the bandit made off with $60 from the CVS on 32nd Street near Fifth Avenue at noon May 8, but struck out later that day at the Duane Reade on Broadway at 70th Street.
He also left empty-handed twice more on May 21, first at a Mrs. Fields cookie shop in Midtown at 6:10 p.m., and then at another Duane Reade, in Chelsea, just before 8 p.m.
He was back at it Sunday, swiping $120 from the Coffee Pot on 49th Street near Ninth Avenue at 8 p.m. — and yesterday, when he hit a Chase bank at Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street at 2 p.m., making off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Brooklyn
A Williamsburg man got a rude awakening when he awoke to find a thief trying to steal bling right off his body, authorities said yesterday.
The victim had met sticky-fingered Willmer Ramirez, 35, at a bar, and the pair then went back to the victim’s Manhattan Avenue apartment at around 3 a.m. Sunday, sources said.
As the victim was sleeping, Ramirez allegedly swiped a ring from the home and put it on his pinkie finger — and then attempted to snatch a necklace and bracelet off the dozing victim.
But the man woke up, locked his front door and frisked Ramirez, finding his jewelry, bank card and ID.
Then he called 911, and police nabbed Ramirez, who was charged with grand larceny.
Bronx
A 17-year-old tried to reason with cops after they allegedly grabbed him with a loaded gun in High Bridge.
Cops were on patrol on East 161st Street near Park Avenue at about 2 a.m. Saturday when they heard three shots, a police source said.
They stopped Bernard “Akon” Folks nearby and found he had a loaded, black. .40-caliber, semiautomatic gun tucked into his waistband, a police source said.
“Oh, man, I am in trouble,” he told cops, according to court papers. “The reason I had a gun was because every day that goes by, somebody from my block always gets killed or shot. I’m not trying to get shot or killed, so I have to do something.”
He was charged with criminal weapons possession.
Queens
A 48-year-old Manhattan man walked into the Chase branch on 82nd Street near 37th Avenue in Elmhurst at about 1 p.m. yesterday and handed the teller a withdrawal slip for $2,500 and a phony Pennsylvania ID card, a police source said.
The teller counted out the cash and left it on the counter. When she turned to verify the ID, the man swiped the money and fled, a police source said.
Cops caught up with him on 81st Street near 41st Avenue and recovered the cash.
Charges were still pending against the unidentified suspect yesterday.
Staten Island
He’s out of the closet.
An ex-con was busted after parole officers found him hiding in a closet in his apartment.
Harvey Nieves, 30, had been arrested earlier this month for assault and released. The arrest violated his parole, so cops were dispatched to his home at the Richmond Terrace Houses at about 9 a.m. Friday to look for him, a police source said. They found him in the closet.
He allegedly punched and kicked the cops before they wrestled him to the floor.
He was arrested and charged with resisting arrests and obstruction of governmental administration, said a spokesman for DA Daniel Donovan.