GROUCH: Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, who dons a Cookie Monster costume to hit up tourists for tips, appears in court yesterday on charges that he accosted Parmita Katkar and her 2-year-old boy, Samay, in Times Square. (Steven Hirsch)
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Parmita Katkar and her 2-year-old boy, Samay.
A man who dresses as Cookie Monster in Times Square was hauled into court yesterday to face charges for allegedly pushing a 2-year-old boy to the ground and cursing him and his Bollywood-actress mom in a tip dispute.
Osvaldo Quiroz-Lopez, 33 — wearing a Cookie Monster-blue sweatshirt with white letters that said, “Like What You See?” — was arraigned and held in lieu of $1,000 bail on charges of reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.
On Sunday, he screamed at Parmita Katkar, an actress from India and former beauty queen, “Give me money! Give me money! I get $2 for a photo,’’ after he posed for photos with her son, the criminal complaint alleges.
When Katkar told him she didn’t have any cash on her, she “heard the defendant state in substance to her, ‘You are a bitch, your son is a bastard, and your stuff is trash.’
“She then observed the defendant place his hands on her son and push him, causing her son to lose his balance and nearly fall to the ground,’’ the Manhattan court complaint said.
Katkar yesterday said her son Samay is still traumatized.
“All he keeps saying is, ‘I don’t like the Cookie Monster, I don’t like the Cookie Monster,’ ” she told The Post.
Police say Times Square’s costumed characters have become a scourge.
“Complaints have been rising against these characters over the past year,’’ one source said. “They’ve always been a problem, [but] now, they’re becoming a real pain in the butt. These people are scam artists.”
Katkar, 34, said she was walking with Samay and her 8-month-old son, Swhaas, at 2 p.m. Saturday on Broadway near West 45th Street when they were swarmed by the furry menaces.
“I just thought they were being friendly,” she said. “It’s strange. We weren’t even talking to them. These guys walk up to you and say, ‘Take a picture! Take a picture!’ ”
She said an Elmo picked Samay up from his stroller without Katkar’s permission and urged her to take a photo.
She took pics of Samay with several characters, including Cookie Monster.
Then the harassment began.
In addition to Elmo and Cookie Monster, a Puss in Boots also asked for money, Katkar said.
She told the costumed gang her husband was at an ATM getting money.
Most “were fine with it. They said, ‘OK,’ ” Katkar recalled.
But not the Cookie Monster.
Katkar said that she told Quiroz-Lopez she would go get the money from her husband, but that he hissed at her: “No, I’m coming with you. It’s in my best interest to follow you.”
“He was losing patience. He kept saying, ‘Where’s the money? Where’s the money?’ ” she recalled.
When he started cursing, “I was shocked,” Katkar recounted. “I said, ‘Why are you talking like this? You’ll get your money.’
“I don’t know if he pushed the stroller or Samay, but the next thing I knew, Samay was startled and on the ground.’’
Katkar, who lives with her family in Connecticut, said that when her husband, Sagar Kurada, returned and saw his wife crying, he complained to nearby cops.
The officers went to the Times Square station to review a video of the altercation and then picked up Quiroz-Lopez.
But Katkar said her nightmare wasn’t over.
The family was besieged again — this time by Dora the Explorer.
“I said, ‘No! No! No! Stay away from me!’ ” she said.
Mayor Bloomberg said today that the city has tried to regulate the costumed performers but said “you have a right to dress any ways you want.”
“It’s very hard to have laws that prohibit a lot of that behavior. We try to watch it as much as we can.”
Quiroz-Lopez’s boyfriend, who attended yesterday’s hearing, insisted his beau was innocent.
“I’ve lived with him for seven years,” said the man, who didn’t give his name.
“He’s not that guy. He’s been doing [work as Cookie Monster] for three years. Never a problem.”
Officials say they are nearly powerless to sweep the characters off the streets. They say the characters largely get around permit issues and copyright infringements by calling themselves “street performers.”
“Everybody’s concerned about this, and they’re trying to find a thoughtful way to respond that respects free speech and addresses real concerns about public safety,’’ said Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, which provides security for the area.
But tourists say they could use a break from the characters.
“They always come for the children,” said Benny Roehl, who was visiting with his 8-year-old daughter from Sweden. “Then they try to get the money. I would say they’re more pushy than friendly.”
One former costume performer, Evan Laws, 22, said he put on a Batman costume and hit Times Square when he was having trouble finding work.
“As long as we don’t charge people, and as long as we don’t harass people or follow them, then it’s all good,” he said.
Additional reporting by Yasmine Phillips and Laura Italiano