Metro

Daily Blotter

Manhattan

A malfunctioning transformer burned and shocked three workers making repairs on it on Pier 86 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on the West Side Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Two of the workers were rushed to New York-Presbyterian Hospital with arm burns, while another was evaluated on scene but declined medical attention.

The cause of the 11:25 a.m. malfunction was under investigation, according to a museum spokesperson.

The facility was shut down for the rest of the day as a precaution, but is expected to open as normal on Wednesday, officials said.

The Bronx

Cops investigating the slaying of a South Bronx resident have arrested a neighbor of the victim, police said Tuesday.

José Lacen, 44, of East 153rd Street, was charged with murder, manslaughter, and robbery in the fatal stabbing of Ricardo Phillips just before 1 a.m. last Thursday, according to cops.

Phillips, 64, lived on East 152nd Street, authorities said.

The body of the victim was found with cuts to the head and neck on Courtlandt Avenue.


Police are looking for the man pictured above who allegedly pulled a gun in University Heights and fired into the air.

Police say he fired multiple gunshots for undisclosed reasons at 6:30 a.m. on May 26 at East Tremont Road and the Grand Concourse.

No one was hit, cops said.

Brooklyn

A 26-year-old man was found shot to death in East New York early Tuesday, police said.

He was discovered in front of 273 Hendrix St. at 3:40 a.m. with multiple gunshot wounds, cops said.

The man was pronounced dead at Brookdale Hospital, police said.

There have been no arrests and the victim’s identity was not immediately released, said law-enforcement authorities.


A Kensington woman pepper-sprayed a 74-year-old man in an apartment-building elevator early Saturday, according to a criminal complaint.

Theresa Gatson, 46, got into an argument with the elderly man at 45 Linden Blvd. just after 2:30 a.m., the complaint states.

Gatson suddenly pulled out a cannister and pepper-sprayed the man in the face, according to the complaint.

She was charged with two counts of menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and attempted assault.


The man pictured above ran off with a woman’s iPhone last month at a Bay Ridge subway station, cops said.

The thief snatched the phone right out of the 31-year-old woman’s hands as she waited for an R train on June 8 at 12:30 p.m., ­police said.

The thief was described as between 18 and 21 years old, about 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds.

He was last seen wearing a blue T-shirt and blue sweatpants with a white stripe down the legs, cops said.

Staten Island

A New Dorp man was hit with robbery and larceny charges on July 1 after cops say he fooled his victim into believing he had a gun.

Police say Dustin Kai, 21, was at Miller Field near New Dorp Lane and Cedar Grove Avenue when he simulated a handgun in the waistband of his pants and demanded to use a victim’s cellphone on June 1, according to a criminal complaint.

He also stole cash from the victim.

Cops say they don’t believe Kai had a real gun in his possession.

“He appears to have had tricked [the victim] into believing he had a gun,” a law-enforcement source said, “but there’s no evidence he actually had one at the time of the robbery.”

Kai was charged with two counts of robbery, grand larceny and petit larceny, the complaint states.


A father with a suspended license was arrested for driving drunk with his two children in the car, a Criminal Court complaint states.

Vishan Maharaj, 31, was behind the wheel and swerving when police pulled him over on the West Shore Expressway near Victory Boulevard at about 10:20 p.m. Sunday, the complaint states.

Maharaj was unsteady, had bloodshot eyes, and reeked of alcohol when cops noticed 2- and 7-year-old kids in the back seat, the complaint states.

Police administered a Breathalyzer and found Maharaj had a blood-alcohol level of .084, which is above the legal limit.

He was charged with DWI and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, authorities said.