Manhattan
A fearless Manhattan jewelry-store employee helped police capture an alleged gunman, relentlessly chasing him through the Upper West Side until the suspect finally gave back $60,000 in stolen baubles.
The 20-something worker was wiring the basement of More and More Antiques at Amsterdam Avenue and West 79th Street at around 2:30 p.m. Monday when he heard loud noises on the first floor and dashed upstairs to investigate, sources said.
He found a colleague on the ground with suspected teenage thief Israel Mincey standing over her holding a bag of jewelry and a small semiautomatic, the sources said.
The tough-as-nails worker chased Mincey several blocks to West End Avenue and West 73rd Street.
There, a fed-up Mincey spun around, tossed the jewels and his knapsack and begged, “Stop following me,” the sources added.
The knapsack contained papers with Mincey’s name, which led cops to his Crown Heights home, where he was arrested on charges of robbery, grand larceny and weapons possession.
He has four prior arrests, for gun possession and robbery.
The Bronx
A Castle Hill woman forced her 13-year-old cousin to strip down so she could beat him with an aluminum broom handle, authorities said.
Leah Bowling, 29, attacked the boy at 7 p.m. Aug. 13, inside her Randall Avenue apartment and then ordered him to remove his clothes, according to a Criminal Court complaint.
“Don’t listen to me [and] I am going to hit you in your b–ls. If you don’t listen to me, I am going to stab you. Strip! If you don’t take your clothes off, I am going to hurt you,” the woman allegedly shouted.
The boy removed his clothing and still got a beating, officials said.
He suffered cuts, bruises, bleeding and swelling that required treatment at an area hospital.
Bowling was charged with assault, menacing, weapons possession, harassment and endangering the welfare of a child.
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A knife-wielding creep (pictured) is wanted for touching himself on a bus in front of children and their mom in Mount Eden, police said.
The 27-year-old mom asked the man to stop pleasuring himself in front of her daughter and son at 5:45 p.m. July 9 as the Bx2 bus rode along the Grand Concourse toward East 171st Street, cops said.
But the continued what he was doing, so the mother notified the bus driver, according to police.
The sicko then flashed a blade and the quick-acting mom grabbed his hand so he couldn’t cut her, cops added.
When the bus stopped at East 171st Street, the man ran off, police said. The woman was not injured.
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Cops are searching for clues after a woman was discovered stabbed to death yesterday in an apartment in Fairmont-Claremont Village.
The 55-year-old victim was found in a vacant apartment on Southern Boulevard near Crotona Park East at 5:30 a.m., according to cops.
The tenants renting the apartment “moved out about a week ago,” Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
The woman had no relation to the tenants, cops said.
The victim’s name is being withheld pending family notification, and cops are waiting for the Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death.
Brooklyn
A man was shot dead on a street corner in Crown Heights, cops said.
The 32-year-old victim suffered gunshot wounds to his chest and left arm and was found on the sidewalk at Sterling Place and Buffalo Avenue at around 4 a.m. yesterday.
The man was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
No arrests had been made as of last night.
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Two cops were among eight people injured in a car wreck in East New York after a two-borough police chase, sources said.
The two officers were in an unmarked car when they spotted a man in a black Nissan Altima blow through a red light in South Ozone Park at around 2:30 a.m., police sources said.
They checked the license plate and discovered the car’s owner was wanted for allegedly sideswiping a parked vehicle and then taking off.
The cops chased the Altima more than three miles into East New York.
The pursuit ended when the driver slammed his car into a BMW that was stopped for a red light on Atlantic Avenue near Van Siclen Avenue, authorities said.
The unmarked police car then hit the Altima, causing the officers to suffer minor neck and back injuries, cops said.
They were taken to Jamaica Hospital. Five people in the BMW were taken to another area hospital with minor injuries, officials said.
The driver, whose name has not been released, was in police custody at Jamaica Hospital and cops planned to charge him with DWI and leaving the scene of an accident, the sources said.